The Legacy
by Kadiedid
Summary: "Often during the next few weeks, their minds would come back to this time when everything was perfect and uncomplicated. They would use it as an escape from the firestorm that was brewing back home. A firestorm that would test their loyalty to their jobs and to their NCIS family."
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N This is the sequel to the Promise. You should probably read the first three stories in this series to understand what's happening. The usual disclaimers apply. I only own the story and the extra characters. This chapter is short but is basically a prologue. The others will be longer. Please review!**_

* * *

Magical. That was the only word she could think of to describe their honeymoon. Despite his enthusiasm about the awesome surfing available to him, he had only spent a couple of hours one morning actually riding the waves. The rest of the time they had spent together. They had done some sightseeing, a little shopping, and even went dancing one evening… for a little while. The rest of the time had been spent in bed.

During the times they were out of their room, it was obvious to everyone who saw them that they were newlyweds. He was totally captivated by her and it was rare when they weren't holding hands or his arm wasn't around her. They weren't one of those couples that make you want to gag because they are practically making out in public. They were the ones you can't take your eyes off of because the love and respect for one another is so evident. They were oblivious to the stares and smiles from others. This was their time. Time to enjoy one another without worrying about chasing bad guys, and time to push away all thoughts of the responsibilities and challenges to come.

They had agreed before they boarded the plane that all discussions about work, co-workers, babies and housing were on hold for the entire week. At first it had been hard to do but by the time they finally fell asleep after spending their first day in bed, they found it easier. The only time the baby was mentioned was when Kensi put on her bikini to go to the beach.

"I can't go out there looking like this!" she exclaimed looking in the mirror.

"Like what? A beautiful goddess?" he asked moving up and wrapping his arms around her from behind. He kissed her neck and shoulder and felt a shiver run through her.

"I look fat and… and… pregnant!"

He looked at her in the mirror and removed his hands to look at her tiny baby bump. "Kens, you look like you just ate a cheeseburger! You do not look fat and you definitely do not look pregnant!"

She smiled up at him and rubbed her tummy.

He put his hands on top of hers and whispered in her ear, "But… if you're that worried about it, we can always stay here… in our room… in bed." He trailed kisses down her neck and felt his insatiable desire for her burning through him again.

She turned to face him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Beach first, then we'll come back here…"

He smiled and groaned playfully. They made their way to the beach and actually lay on their blanket for almost a full hour before they hurried back to their room.

Deeks was in heaven. His dreams had come true and all because of the beautiful woman who lay in his arms. The time away had been just what they needed to put the past behind them and get ready to move forward with their life together. He couldn't help but smile as he kissed the top of her sleeping head. He wondered how long it would be before she really started to show. He had noticed when she first began to pooch just a bit but hadn't mentioned it to her. He knew her body so well that he couldn't help but notice. He had heard horror stories of husbands who said the wrong thing and were banished from the bedroom for weeks at a time. He couldn't imagine that Kensi would actually do that to him but he wasn't taking any chances. He couldn't get enough of her and hoped she felt the same about him. If the amount of time they had spent in bed was any indication, he was pretty sure she did.

But it wasn't just about the sex. It was the connection they had made on a much deeper level. The one where you knew what the other was thinking. The one where you knew what the other wanted and needed. The one where your needs were not as important as theirs. He had never felt that connection with anyone in his entire life until he had met Kensi. They had reached the communication portion of this unnamed realm during the time when they were just partners and nothing more. If he was honest with himself, it was the buried feelings they had had for one another that led to the mystical silent communication between them. It wasn't until their relationship became physical that he began to feel the deeper connection and the time spent together on their honeymoon had defined it even more.

He sighed contentedly and pulled her closer to him. He reluctantly woke her up to make plans for dinner. After spending some time in the shower together they eventually got dressed to go out.

This was their last day. Tomorrow they would fly home and face reality. They had jobs to return to. They had to find a place to live and most importantly, they had to tell the team about the baby and prepare for his or her arrival.

She sighed as they sat outside at the restaurant near the beach looking out at the ocean as the sun slowly crept toward the horizon.

"Don't think about it yet Kens. We still have tonight," he said softly.

"I know. This has been so relaxing and so… perfect."

"It still is," he said holding her hand and looking into her eyes.

She smiled and kissed him lightly. "I just don't want it to end."

"It won't," he assured her. "It will be different and we'll have to deal with life as it gets thrown at us but this," he said pointing between the two of them, "This won't ever end." He leaned over and kissed her tenderly.

They finished their dinner then took a walk on the beach, holding hands, enjoying each other's company and the sound of the waves rolling in. After a few minutes he stopped and turned to face her.

"I love you Kensi," he said as he wrapped her in his arms.

She returned the embrace and reveled in the feel of his arms around her. This was their world. All three of them wrapped up together and it was perfect. She realized in that moment, that no matter where they were or what was happening in their life, they would be in it together. It was the true meaning of _'for better or for worse'_.

"And I love you," she whispered then kissed him gently. "Let's go spend the rest of our honeymoon doing what we do best," she whispered seductively.

"You want to spend the rest of the night, eating Twinkies and arguing about what to watch on TV?" he asked grinning. Before she could reply he gave her a kiss that left no doubt in her mind that he knew exactly what she had meant.

They walked back to their hotel and made excellent use of the time they had left alone together. Often during the next few weeks, their minds would come back to this time when everything was perfect and uncomplicated. They would use it as an escape from the firestorm that was brewing back home. A firestorm that would test their loyalty to their jobs and to their NCIS family.

A firestorm started by none other than Owen Granger.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N Thanks so much for the reviews! Keep 'em coming!**_

* * *

"Hey, G." Sam said as he entered the bullpen. It had been extremely quiet for the last couple of months around the mission. Especially the last two weeks with Kensi and Deeks both gone.

"Morning Sam. Have a good weekend?" Callen asked.

"Yep. Very relaxing," he said as he sat at his desk. "The honeymooners are coming back today right?"

"That's what Hetty said." Callen looked around then leaned forward and lowered his voice," Something's up though. Hetty has been on the phone all morning and she doesn't look happy.

Sam looked up to see Hetty standing with her back turned to them, obviously in an animated conversation with someone. "You think it has to do with a new case?"

"No I think it has something to do with Deeks because I heard her mention his name."

* * *

Deeks pulled into his parking space at the mission and turned to look at his wife. "Well, are you ready Princess?"

She sighed and reached for his hand, "As ready as I'll ever be."

He leaned over and kissed her softly. "It's gonna be really hard to keep my hands to myself today. I haven't been more than a couple of feet away from you in days," he said smiling. "Just promise me you won't let Sam and Callen punch me when we tell them about the baby."

"They're not going to punch you Marty," she said softly. "They might send you a death glare but they won't hit you," she teased.

He took a big breath and blew it out slowly as he looked toward the entrance. "I guess we should get this over with so we can hopefully move on to the part where they're happy for us."

"They will be happy for us, I promise," she said as she squeezed his hand then opened her door.

He slowly opened his, grabbed his go bag then closed it behind him. He waited for her to walk around to his side then put his arm around her shoulders as they started for the entrance.

She sent him a warning look and he just replied with one of his crooked grins, "We're not inside yet."

He opened the large oak door for her then followed her inside, dutifully keeping his hands to himself.

"Hey look Sam, the newlyweds made it back to the real world," Callen said as he stood to give Kensi a hug. He moved to Deeks and gave him a one armed man hug.

"Are you sure this is the real world? I thought maybe this was another dimension," Deeks replied as Sam gave them both hugs as well.

"So how was it?" Callen asked grinning. "I know you were supposed to be at the beach but neither of you look like you got much sun."

Sam laughed and said, "Maybe they used sunscreen."

Kensi blushed, but her comment shut them up pretty quickly. "It was wonderful and perfect and for your information, we didn't need sunscreen."

Deeks looked over at her and grinned but made no additional comment as he put his go bag on his desk. "Are Eric and Nell up in Ops?" he asked nervously.

"I think so. Why?" asked Callen.

He looked over at Hetty and saw her hang up the phone with a disturbed look on her face. He got Kensi's attention and nodded his head toward Hetty.

She turned around and saw the angry features of their boss and shook her head slowly.

"Uh, we just wanted to say hi but it looks like now is not the time," he commented pointing at Hetty.

"She's been like that since we got here," Sam replied.

"Any idea what's up?" Kensi asked.

"Not really," Callen answered glancing at Sam.

Before Deeks could ask any more questions, Hetty entered the bullpen. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Deeks. I trust you had a nice honeymoon?"

"Yes we did, Hetty," Deeks answered smiling.

"That's good to hear. May I speak with both of you in my office?"

Callen looked at Sam as the two newlyweds followed her out.

"I know that transitioning back into your jobs and adjusting to your new life together will take some time and I want you to know that I understand and support you both. However…"

Deeks looked at Kensi with a frown on his face, wondering what on earth she was about to say.

Hetty sighed and continued, "I also want you to know that I'm extremely sorry for what I'm about to tell you. I blame myself for not handling the situation better. I had hoped it would blow over but it looks like I was wrong."

"Wrong about what Hetty?" Kensi asked worried.

"It seems that Assistant Director Granger is upset that I didn't tell him about your marriage plans before it happened. He is on his way here to 'deal with it' as he put it. I'm not sure what he means by that exactly but I'm sure we will find out this afternoon when he arrives."

"What is there to 'deal with' Hetty? We're married. It's not like he can make us get a divorce," Deeks replied.

"Yes, you're right. But he can split the two of you up as partners."

"What?" Kensi exclaimed. "Why would he do that? That's just… just… wrong!"

"I agree. I've been on the phone with Director Vance this morning and I'm hoping to find a way to work this out. Again I'm sorry. I should have told him earlier but I knew he would ruin your wedding plans so I kept it to myself. It seems to have made matters worse."

Deeks looked over at Kensi and nodded slightly. She had tears in her eyes but she nodded her head in return as she reached for his hand.

"Hetty, I know this is probably the worst timing ever but you need to know something," Deeks started as he looked to Kensi for support. "Granger probably does need to split us up, at least for a while. I do however want it on record that this is a temporary status and when it is all said and done, I want my true partner back."

"I'm not following you Mr. Deeks," she said confused.

"I'm three months pregnant Hetty," Kensi said softly.

In the three years he had known Hetty, he had never seen her so surprised, let alone speechless.

"You're what?" she finally asked looking at Kensi.

"Marty and I are having a baby," she answered as tears began to slowly slip down her cheeks.

Hetty stood and walked around the desk to stand between her two youngest agents. "Please don't cry Mrs. Deeks," she said as she reached over and patted her on the back. "Congratulations to the both of you." She patted Deeks on the back as well. She walked back around to her chair and when she turned to them she had a smile on her face. "This complicates things a bit more but I can honestly say, it is the best news I have had this morning."

"Thank you Hetty," Deeks said with a slight smile.

"I need to make a few more phone calls then I would like to meet with you both again just after lunch to work on how we can present this to Granger when he arrives."

They both stood to leave and Hetty said again, "Congratulations. I have no doubt that you will be wonderful parents."

They returned to the bullpen still holding hands but with concern etched on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked immediately.

Deeks looked up and said tersely, "Seems Granger has his underwear in a knot because we didn't tell him we were getting married."

"So what?" Callen said angrily. "It's too late now. Why is he whining about it?

"He wants to split us up as partners," Kensi said as she wiped a tear away.

"That son-of-a…" Sam said gritting his teeth.

Deeks looked at Kensi and she nodded at him, "That's not all," he said as they both looked at him.

"I know this is not going to help the situation but we wanted you to know before Granger gets here this afternoon and blows a gasket."

"Know what?" Callen asked worried.

"Kensi and I are having a baby in about six months."

Again… speechless people. He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as the two agents let the news sink into their brains.

"A baby? You two are having a baby?" Sam asked incredulous.

"Yes we are," Kensi said with her head held high.

Callen stood first and moved in front of Deeks and just stared at him for a few seconds. Deeks returned his gaze and swallowed hard. Then a slow grin began to form on Callen's face. He started chuckling and gave him a big bear hug. He turned to Kensi and did the same.

Now Kensi and Deeks were speechless as Sam began to congratulate them and hug them both at the same time.

"Wow, congratulations guys! This is surprising. When are you supposed to get fat?" Callen asked Kensi grinning.

"According to her she is already fat," Deeks said shaking his head.

"You just wait," Sam said as he held his hands way out in front of him. "You'll be huge before too long."

The look of horror on Kensi's face was enough to make Sam backtrack quickly, "But maybe not. Some women don't get huge. I'll bet you'll be one of them."

"She will be just perfect," Deeks said as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

Kensi chose to ignore Sam's comments and said quietly, "I'm just worried about what Granger is going to do."

"Granger better have on steel underwear when he gets here because I'll kick his ass if he upsets you!" Callen proclaimed.

"We have to figure out a strategy for all possible scenarios before he gets here," Deeks said frustrated.

"Then let's get busy working on it," Callen replied.

"Thanks guys," Deeks said appreciatively. "Give us a few minutes. We need to go tell Eric and Nell… well Eric… Nell already knows."

"You mean Nell has known all along and didn't tell any of us?" Callen asked.

"Yes. She was sworn to secrecy by me," Kensi replied.

"Very good information to know", he said smiling, glad that Nell was such a loyal friend.

As soon as they entered Ops, Nell squealed and raced to give them both hugs. "So how was the honeymoon? Did you get to surf Marty? Was the shopping awesome?" she asked turning toward Kensi.

"Great, a little and maybe, in that order," Deeks said with a smile.

"It was wonderful Nell. I'll have to tell you all about it later."

"Well not about ALL of it I hope," Deeks added blushing.

Nell just giggled as Eric came up and hugged them both. "I have your wedding video ready if you want to watch it."

"Thanks Eric. We really appreciate you doing that for us and we really do want to see it but we have to tell you a few things first," Deeks said hesitantly.

They relayed what Hetty had told them and watched as their faces reflected their disapproval.

"He can't do that!" Nell said angrily.

"I guess he can do whatever he wants," Deeks replied. "We just have to figure out a possible solution before he gets here this afternoon."

"Granger is coming here? Today?" Eric asked wide eyed.

"According to Hetty," Kensi answered.

"Well, I'm going to do a little research on NCIS rules and partners who are married and see what I can come up with that will help. You two can't be the first so there has to be a precedent somewhere," Nell said typing on her keyboard.

"Uh, while you're at it, you might want to check on what happens with married partners who are having a baby," Deeks said smiling.

"Nell looked up and grinned. Eric just laughed and asked, "Why do we need to look that up?"

"Because we're having a baby," Kensi answered matter of factly.

"You're… you're… what?" he sputtered.

"We are having a baby Eric. Kensi is about three months along." Deeks couldn't help but laugh at the look on Eric's face. Of all the reactions, his had to be the best.

Horror. Pure horror was the only way to describe it.

"It's okay Eric. We're happy about it. Really," Kensi said laughing.

"Oh… uh… congratulations… uh… wow," he sputtered as the horrified look slowly went away.

Nell squealed again and ran to give another round of hugs, winking at them both.

* * *

After lunch, Kensi and Deeks made their way to Hetty's office.

She looked up from a letter she was writing in some unrecognizable foreign language expecting to see just the two of them. Six pairs of eyes were staring back at her.

"And to what do I owe this visit?"

Callen stepped forward and spoke for all of them. "Hetty, I know this is about Kensi and Deeks but it affects all of us and we all want to help."

"Help with what exactly?" she asked.

"To come up with reasonable solutions to any and all possible arguments he will throw at them."

Hetty looked at her team and smiled. What was happening right here was the reason he shouldn't break them up. They all had one another's back no matter what the cause of the problem and were willing to do whatever it took to make it right.

"Then by all means, let's get started," she said grinning.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N I honestly have no idea what the dating policy is for NCIS agents so please just humor me and go with it! :)_**

* * *

They had been working and discussing options for about an hour in the conference room. The obvious response to all of this was the fact that they worked for the Office of 'Special' Projects. There was no other division that did what they did. They were trained for long and short term undercover assignments. Of course the other units did some short term operations but they did not have the extensive training or the experience of this team. The advantage of having an actual married couple who could pretend to be a couple, married or not, was huge. They all agreed that it should be a 'no brainer' but this was Granger they were dealing with.

Nell had found several instances where partners had gotten married but in every case, one or both had been assigned another job within NCIS so that they weren't partnered up any longer. It seemed that rules were rules and were followed to the letter.

"What did Director Vance have to say about this Hetty?" Callen asked.

"He said he understood my position on the subject but that he wasn't going to interfere. That Owen would have the final say."

Sam shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "I just can't believe they've never once allowed a married couple to be partners," he said frustrated.

Nell hesitantly replied, "There was one case, where married partners were allowed to remain together on a trial basis."

Deeks stood up and seemed to regain some hope when he asked, "How did it turn out?"

Nell was suddenly silent and looked to Hetty for help.

"It didn't turn out well Mr. Deeks. Less than a month into the trial period the female partner was killed in the line of duty."

He paled visibly and sat back down. Kensi reached over and grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He looked at her with a trace of fear in his eyes. "Maybe we should just let Granger do whatever he wants to do. It might be for the best."

"Marty Deeks!" Kensi said loudly. "I can't see how forcing us to take someone else as our partner could be for the best," she reprimanded. "If you can't be my partner when it's time for me to return to the field, then I just won't!"

"Kensi, you know you can't do that. It's not who you are!" he said sadly.

"Maybe it's not who I was, but I have a family now. A family that means more to me than anything, including what I do for a living."

He just looked at her sadly with obvious defeat in his eyes. This was definitely not what he wanted for either of them.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves on this," Hetty said trying to bring the conversation back to the problem at hand. "Ms. Jones, what does the rule book state about NCIS operational partners dating?"

Nell opened up the large binder and turned to the appropriate section then paraphrased, "It says NCIS investigators are not allowed to date, become physically involved with each other or to marry."

"Well, you guys broke that one a long time ago," Sam said trying to lighten the mood.

"Wait! Hold up," Deeks said standing again. "Sam, you may have something there," he commented as he paced behind Kensi.

"What?" Callen asked.

"Technically, when we started dating, I was LAPD and she was NCIS, right?"

"Right," Sam replied smiling.

"So that rule doesn't apply to us officially. Am I right Hetty?"

"I would agree Mr. Deeks."

His face fell suddenly, "But I became an NCIS agent before we got married which definitely breaks the marriage rule."

"Maybe not," Hetty replied smiling.

All eyes were on her as she stood up at the end of the table. "I was given the green light to make you an NCIS agent but first you had to give LAPD your two weeks' notice, correct?"

"Yes," he said smiling as he realized where this was heading.

"Once your two weeks were up, you took a week to get ready for the wedding and another week for your honeymoon."

"So technically, when we got married, I wasn't an NCIS agent," Deeks said grinning.

"Today is officially your first day and Kensi hasn't been put back in the field yet," Callen said with a smirk.

"But I'll be on desk duty for a long time," she commented.

"But Granger doesn't need to know about that just yet," Callen said as he looked at Hetty.

"Who else knows you're pregnant, Kensi?" Callen asked worried.

"No one. Just you guys. And Mom, of course."

Callen smiled and looked at Hetty. She nodded her head in agreement.

"What? Did I miss something?" Deeks asked confused.

All Granger needs to know is that today is your first day as an official NCIS agent. You weren't aware of the rules when you married Kensi, which won't be a valid excuse as far as Granger is concerned, but that along with the fact that she is not on active duty will placate him for now. He'll probably tell Hetty to get you a new partner which she will do, on a temporary basis of course. In a few weeks, Hetty will let Granger know about the baby which will be no big deal because nothing will change.

"And maybe, just maybe, by the time Kensi is back on active duty, the circumstances will be different. Maybe Granger will no longer be here," Hetty said with a knowing smile.

"So we don't tell him about the baby, right?" Deeks asked.

"Right," Sam replied.

"Before long, I won't be able to hide it from him," Kensi said frowning.

"We will worry about that when the time comes," Hetty assured her.

Callen stood and put his hand out above the center of the table. "I pledge to keep this secret just between us until the appropriate time arrives to inform Granger," he said as smiled at each person at the table. "Who's with me?"

One by one, every person on the team stood and placed their hands together in the middle of the circle and said "I'm in."

Deeks couldn't help the flood of emotion he felt for this group of friends. His family. He looked at Kensi and watched a single tear slide down her cheek as he wrapped an arm around her and they both added their hands and pledges to the others.

* * *

About an hour after they finished their discussion and returned to their desks in the bullpen, Granger waltzed in as if he owned the place.

Kensi saw him first and mumbled, "Show time," to the others. They watched him march straight to Hetty's office with a scowl on his face. She was nervous and worried and fighting nausea which she hadn't had in weeks. She looked over at Deeks who gave her a wink and a smile. They all strained to hear the conversation but it was useless.

Deeks phone rang a few minutes later. He stared at it then looked at the others before he took a big breath and answered it.

"Deeks," he said. "I'll be right there." He stood and looked at Kensi. "He asked for me but I think we need to do this together no matter what he wants. You good?"

"I'm good," she said standing and walking toward him.

"Stick to the plan," Callen whispered as they walked past him to Hetty's office.

"Deeks, I told _you_ to come here. I didn't tell you to bring Blye with you," Granger growled.

"Her name is also Deeks. I assumed you meant both of us," he said smiling.

Granger moved to walk behind Hetty's desk and pointed for the both of them to sit.

Deeks looked at Kensi then they both slowly sat in the chairs.

"It seems you two chose to ignore the rule about marrying co-workers," Granger said smugly.

"Actually, when we got married, I was still LAPD," Deeks replied still smiling widely.

"Don't get smart with me, Deeks," he said. "You were already an NCIS agent and you know it."

"Actually, Owen," Hetty interrupted, "I could have saved you a trip to Los Angeles if you had bothered to listen when you called this morning. Today is Mr. Deeks first day as an NCIS agent."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Two weeks' notice to LAPD and two weeks of accrued vacation they owed him," Hetty said matter of factly.

Granger looked at Hetty and then back to Deeks. "It doesn't change anything," he said testily.

"You're right. It doesn't," Deeks answered. "You're extremely aware of how well this team works together and you also know how changing the dynamics of a team can be detrimental. That's the reason I decided to become an NCIS agent. I was tired of LAPD yanking me back when they damn well pleased."

"But the rules state…"

"Since when are you so worried about rules Granger?" Deeks asked, his smile faltering.

"Since I became the Assistant Director and if you want to stay with this team I suggest you change your attitude Deeks."

Granger glared at him but he didn't look away. He just covertly pushed the button on his phone. It was time for reinforcements.

"Callen, what do you want?" Granger asked when the agent arrived and stood behind Deeks.

"I want you to look at this logically, _Assistant Director Granger_," he said in a patronizing tone.

"This is none of your business Callen. Go back to your desk."

"Actually it is my business. I'm the leader of this team and I know the reason why we have such a high success rate. It's because each member trusts the others implicitly. It's not just a partner thing… It's also team thing and if you want us to continue to do our job at our very best then you should leave it alone. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that when we are successful it obviously makes you look good too."

"Are you finished Callen?"

"Depends on whether or not you were listening," he said seriously.

"Agent Blye isn't even back on active duty yet…"

"Actually I'm right here and my name is Deeks. Agent Kensi Deeks. I'm scheduled for my psych eval next week and should finish all of the required paperwork and physical tests shortly thereafter. I should be back on active duty in a few weeks," she said glancing at her husband. She looked at Granger and said, "I think you should at least give us a chance to prove we can do this without disrupting our success rate."

Granger looked at Hetty then back at the three standing in front of them. As much as it pained him to agree with them about anything, he had to admit that they did make him look good quite often. "Fine. Once you're back on active duty, you will have one month to prove to me that you two can handle this. In the mean time, I'll transfer someone over here to fill in until Blye… Agent Deeks is back in the field. We'll call it a probationary experiment."

Deeks looked at Kensi and smiled lightly.

"However, if one of you screws up an op then I'll split you up faster than you can imagine."

Callen wanted to clarify what he meant by that exactly but he decided to let it go… for now.

The three were dismissed and Granger remained at Hetty's desk in quiet discussion with her.

"How did it go?" Sam asked quietly as they returned to the bullpen.

"So far, so good," Callen answered. "We'll see if he'll actually let it go," he commented as he looked back toward Granger. "In the meantime, how about we welcome the newlywed's home properly and grab some dinner before we head home?"

"Sounds good," Sam replied. "I'll call up to Eric and Nell."

"I think I'll just send Hetty a text," Callen said smirking.

Kensi looked at Deeks and plastered a half hearted grin on her face. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home and crash with her husband on the couch in front of some mindless TV show. He winked at her and patted her hand. She got the message loud and clear. This was something they really needed to do. Their amazing friends had helped them out again and were also putting their own jobs on the line by keeping their secret from Granger. The least she could do is spend a couple of hours with them at dinner.

* * *

Hetty sighed and sat back down in her chair after Granger left her office. They had assumed he would ask her to find a temporary partner for Mr. Deeks but he insisted he would take care of it and send someone this week. Hetty checked her phone and read the text from Callen. She locked her desk, grabbed her bag and concentrated on wiping the frown off her face. The last thing the team needed right now was to see just how much she was worried about whatever Granger was planning.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N Thanks so much for the reviews! Special thanks to Sweet Lu, Fictionista48, Imahistorian and SunnyCitrus10. On with the evil Owen Granger!**_

* * *

It was late when they finally came home to Kensi's house and collapsed on the couch. He pulled her to him and gently rubbed her back as she lay across his chest.

"Not exactly the homecoming we were hoping for was it?" he commented sighing.

"No. Not at all. Can we go back to our honeymoon and just pretend we never came home?" she replied wistfully.

He kissed the top of her head and said suggestively, "All we have to do to go back there in our mind is get naked and let nature take its course. It doesn't matter where we are as long as we concentrate on… nature."

She looked up at him and smiled then laid her head back on his chest. "If I wasn't so tired, I would be happy to join you in your quest for nature but right now, I don't want to move."

He grinned and put his chin on top of her head. "I guess we've put off the life discussions long enough. So, what do you want to talk about first?"

"The baby, I think."

"Baby Deeks it is. When is your next appointment with the doctor?"

"Friday at 11:00. You're coming with me right?" she asked looking up at him.

"Of course! This is when we can find out if it's a boy or girl right?"

"Yep."

"Do you?" he asked softly.

"Do I what?"

"Do you want to know?"

"Of course. Don't you?"

"Well… not really. Not that I wouldn't be excited to find out but… I kind of like the idea of it being a surprise."

"Then how will we know how to decorate the nursery or what type of clothes to buy?" she asked sitting up and looking at him.

"Somehow I don't see you wanting to decorate the nursery pink if we find out it's a girl! We can always pick gender neutral colors and even clothes. There will be plenty of time to buy appropriate clothing after the baby is born right?"

"I guess you're right. I just assumed you would want to know." She lay back down on his chest and asked, "What about names?"

"Well, we can pick out a name for each ahead of time."

"I don't know. I sort of like the idea of knowing what to expect."

He laughed and replied, "Kensi, we aren't gonna have a clue what to expect. This is gonna be a new adventure for both of us!"

They sat silently for a few minutes thinking about the responsibilities ahead of them when Deeks finally spoke, "Speaking of nurseries, where exactly is this mythical nursery going to be?"

She sighed and said, "So I guess we've moved on to life discussion number two."

"Looks that way. I'll pick up a paper in the morning so we can look through the real estate section and circle the possibilities. Maybe Saturday, we can go house hunting.

"Sounds good," she said as she snuggled in closer. They were unintentionally drifting off to sleep when there was a loud knock on the door.

Deeks jerked awake and Kensi quickly stood up. She walked to the door and peeked through the curtains then grinned as she looked toward Deeks. She opened the door and was immediately attacked by an over anxious Monty.

"Hey buddy! Did you miss us?" she cooed as she patted his head, his tail wagging wildly.

"He missed _you_," Deeks said smiling. "He hasn't given me the time of day yet."

"Trust me, he missed you both," Callen said as he entered the room with a bag of Monty's toys and snacks.

Monty jumped down off of Kensi and raced to Deeks and started the process all over again.

"He moped around for a couple of days but he finally started eating again," Callen commented watching Monty.

"Thanks for taking him Callen," Deeks said clapping him on the back.

"We had a great time, didn't we Monty?" he asked the dog as he happily made his way back to Callen for more attention.

"You need a dog, man. You're great with him," Deeks said grinning.

"I had one once. Maybe someday I'll think about it."

Deeks watched as he continued to scratch Monty behind the ears.

"Who do you think Granger will send as a temporary replacement," Deeks asked Callen in a serious tone.

Callen stood and replied, "I don't know. It worries me that he didn't tell Hetty to choose one. I can't help but think he's appointing someone who is loyal to him so he can get information on us somehow."

"Great. How can I work with a partner that I can't trust?" Deeks asked.

Kensi shook her head and added, "How can I even think about letting him go in the field with someone none of us can trust?"

Callen shook his head and said, "I don't know. Maybe we're being paranoid but when Granger is involved, I think it's best to assume the worst."

Kensi frowned but said nothing.

"Have a seat Callen. Can I get you a beer?" Deeks offered.

"No thanks, I appreciate the offer but I've got to run." He bent down and patted Monty again and said, "Bye little Mutt. See you soon."

Deeks shook his hand as they said their goodbyes and watched as he drove away. They returned to the couch and sat back down but this time Monty hopped up in between them and laid his head on Kensi's leg.

Kensi stroked his fur but said nothing. After a few minutes of silence Deeks said, "It'll be okay Kens, please don't worry about it. Callen and Sam have my back and I'm sure this new guy won't do anything to jeopardize his career."

"I'm scared Marty. Scared and angry. Angry that I can't be out there with you and scared that this new person is a threat. Not only to you but possibly to the whole team."

He put his arm around her and sighed. "Let's not get upset about something that hasn't happened yet. Maybe we're being paranoid for no reason. Let's just wait 'til he gets here and see what kind of impression he makes on us."

She sighed and leaned into him. He was right. There was no need to panic… yet.

* * *

The next couple of days were quiet around the mission. The three men had gone out on a few calls to check leads on a new case but nothing had panned out so far. Kensi was now back on full time desk duty. She helped Nell and Eric out with a few assignments in Ops but was also still working on the old case files. In the three months they had been working on them, there had been only two that were close enough to completion to put back on the active case list. Once the current case was finished, one of these would take top priority. It was now solely her job to finish the enormous stack of case files that were still uncategorized. The good news was that she had job security. Even though she couldn't be out in the field, this assignment was sanctioned from higher up so there was no chance of them transferring her to another department after they found out about the baby.

She couldn't help but think about the new guy who would be joining them soon. She shivered when she thought about the potential harm a Granger snitch could do to the team. They were good but their means to an end could sometimes be considered questionable. All the higher ups wanted was a successful unit, Granger included. They didn't really bother to ask questions and took the field reports at face value. A snitch was sure to point out the times when their methods were questionable to Granger which could start a chain reaction that might take the whole unit down.

She shook off the disturbing thought and concentrated on the file in her hand. They would find out soon enough if this guy was a team player or not.

* * *

Thursday started out badly and only got worse. Deeks went for an early morning surf and got back later than he intended which made them late for work. He showered quickly and they raced out the door only to get caught in traffic caused by an accident.

"Callen, we're on our way. Stuck in traffic again," Deeks said frustrated as he made the phone call.

"Well, make sure you're on your toes when you get here," Callen replied.

"Why? Hetty on the warpath?"

"No. Our new agent is here," he said quietly.

"Oh. Got it. See you in a few." He hung up and looked over at Kensi.

"The new guy is here already. Callen couldn't talk."

"Great. This day just keeps getting better and better," she said tapping her fingers on her leg nervously."

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "It's okay. Just be cool and don't aggravate him. I know you probably want to kick his ass already Princess but let's just wait and see if he warrants it."

She couldn't' help but smile at him. He was right. She needed to be cool and give the guy a chance. She would give him exactly one and then heaven help him if he allowed something to happen to her husband.

After fighting traffic for another half hour, they finally pulled off the highway and made their way to the mission. Her nerves were already on edge and she was doing her best to calm down as they entered the building. If there was ever a morning she needed her donuts and coffee it was today but they hadn't had time to stop.

The first thing she noticed was someone sitting at her desk. She didn't like for anyone to sit at her desk and had even threatened Deeks the last time he plopped down in her chair. Her desk was covered with her personal things and it was unthinkable that a complete stranger would be sitting there without her permission. Not to mention the fact that she would never have given permission in the first place.

Deeks saw the trespasser and immediately turned to Kensi with a look of fear on his features. There had to be a logical reason why someone was sitting at Kensi's desk but he doubted it would matter to her.

"Kens, take a deep breath. I'll take care of it," he said softly noticing the red flush on her neck and face.

"Good morning Sam, Callen," he said giving them a look he hoped they would understand.

Callen looked up and immediately noticed the expression on Kensi's face. She was about to blow and he needed to head this off quickly. He stood up and pointed to the other side of the desk, "Please come over here, I would like to introduce you to the rest of the team."

He waited until the newbie moved in front and said, "This is Special Agent Marty Deeks and Special Agent Kensi Deeks." He pointed at them then said, "And this is Special Agent Emily Burnett temporarily assigned to us by Assistant Director Granger."

Deeks held out his hand and shook hers, "Nice to meet you Agent Burnett."

"Please, call me Emily," she said politely.

He stood back and looked at Kensi who was staring daggers at her. _'This was going to be bad. Really bad,' _he thought.

Kensi stared in unbelief. The new agent was a woman! A woman who had made herself comfortable at her desk! A woman who was going to be her husband's new partner! She continued to stare as she walked behind her desk and made a production of setting her bag on top of it.

Emily Burnett felt unbelievably uncomfortable. Obviously she had done something wrong to warrant this behavior from the woman now standing where she had just been sitting. She felt she should do something quickly. She held out her hand and said, "Nice to meet you Agent Deeks."

Kensi continued to stare at the woman. Deeks coughed slightly and she snapped out of her dark thoughts. She reluctantly took her hand and returned the handshake.

Firmly.

"Nice to meet you Agent Burnett," she said as she sat down in her chair but her eyes never left the new Agent.

Deeks hadn't felt this uncomfortable since he met Kensi's mother that first time. He needed to diffuse the tension and quickly.

"Well, I need coffee. You want some coffee Kensi?" he asked smiling half-heartedly.

"Yes, Marty. I would love some," she said smiling at him.

He could see the way her jaw was clenched and sent up a little prayer. This day was just the best.

Callen pointed to the chair at the end of the bullpen and directed Emily to it. He stood beside her as he listed her credentials to the rest of the team. "Emily has been transferred over from the Southwest Field Office in San Diego. She's been a Special Agent for four years and has done a handful of short term undercover operations. She comes highly recommended by Assistant Director Granger," he said which let them all know he was suspicious already.

Sam turned to Kensi and clarified, "Hetty is working on getting her a desk of her own. We weren't really expecting anyone until next week but Granger sent her over a bit early."

Deeks returned and handed the coffee to Kensi, smiling at her in hopes of calming her down. He could tell it wasn't working.

'_This could not be happening,' _she thought to herself. _'What was Granger trying to do?' _ She stared openly at the beautiful woman sitting across the bullpen. She was almost as tall as herself but not quite. She had long blonde wavy hair that looked natural, not acquired from a box and green eyes. Her adequate curves were accentuated in the dark blue suit she was wearing. The skirt showed off her tan legs which caused the feeling of unbelief to grow more intense. She looked up at Deeks and realized he had been watching her reaction to the woman the whole time. She should have taken comfort in the fact that he wasn't staring at the newbie but her jealous streak just wouldn't be silenced.

"What?" she hissed at him.

"Down girl. It's okay. Remember what we talked about in the car?" he said quietly.

His reminder just made her more upset. She had to get out of here and regroup. She stood and placed her bag in her chair in hopes it would deter her from trying to sit there again. "I'm going to the gym." She walked quickly down the hall and left Deeks sitting there staring after her.

"Uh, I think I'll go too," he said as he glanced at Callen.

He followed after her and was shaking his head. None of them were expecting this. Maybe if they had they could have been better prepared. All he knew was that Kensi was going to have a hard time with this woman. He fully expected her to go all _'alpha female'_ on her before the day was over.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Thanks so much! The usual disclaimers apply.

* * *

"Kens. Kensi, wait up," Deeks said loudly trying to get her attention as he followed her down the hallway to the gym. She kept going and didn't turn around. When he finally caught up to her she was sitting in the middle of the mat on the floor in the gym. He sat down cross legged in front of her but said nothing. He decided it would be best if she was the one to speak first. He didn't have to wait long.

"What the hell is Granger doing?" she said through gritted teeth.

"I don't know."

"I can't do this. I can't work with her and I certainly don't want you working with her in the field."

"Maybe that's what Granger wants," he said as he took her hands in his.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe he wants us to be angry and not play nice. Then he can swoop in and replace us with his stooges."

Kensi sat quietly thinking through what he had said. "So that's it. We have to put up with her and play Granger's game."

"Yes and no."

She looked confused and he continued.

"Yes we have to 'appear' to put up with her and we are definitely _not_ playing Granger's game."

"How do we do that?"

He raised one of her hands to his lips and kissed it then grinned widely, "We pretend. We're really good at pretending to be someone else so…"

"So…," she said beginning to understand, "We pretend to like her and use her to let Granger know exactly what we want him to know."

"That doesn't mean we have to be best friends with her but we do have to be nice," he said as he rubbed the back of her hands with his thumbs.

"I know. '_Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'_. I get it. That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I know Princess," he said with a sigh. "I guess we should get back in there. I have to get to know my new partner."

Kensi glared at him then looked away.

"My _'temporary'_ partner," he corrected. "You will always be my partner Kens."

She looked back at him and sighed, "Why does she have to be so damn beautiful? Couldn't Granger have sent over an ugly Agent?"

He laughed and reached up to gently brush her hair away from her face. "I think she is ugly… compared to you," he said softly.

She scooted closer and leaned in to kiss him. She didn't intend to kiss him like that. Or maybe she did. Her subconscious wanted to make sure she branded him as hers and maybe also remind him of what they had together. It was passionate and controlled at the same time but left him breathless and wanting more.

He pulled her onto his lap and deepened the kiss, forgetting completely where they were. He was more than willing to take it farther when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He took a ragged breath as they both stood quickly. He faced away from the door trying to gain control over his body.

Kensi glanced over at him and couldn't help but smile at his obvious discomfort. Her demeanor changed when she looked toward the door and saw Callen enter with the new girl. She wiped the frown off her face and plastered another look that couldn't possibly be considered a smile but at least it wasn't openly hostile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was showing Emily around the building," Callen said with a smirk on his face.

Deeks finally turned around to face them and nodded but said nothing.

"Kensi, do you mind showing Emily the ladies locker room?" he asked, hoping he was helping the situation and not making it worse.

"Sure. No problem," she replied as she moved in that general direction. "This way," she said to Emily.

As soon as they walked out of the gym, Callen turned to Deeks and commented grinning, "Thought you agreed to keep it out of the workplace?"

Deeks laughed and said, "Extenuating circumstances. Besides, I was talking Kensi down off the ledge."

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse, but I think she realizes what has to be done," he said hoping she really did.

"Here are the lockers. I'm sure Hetty will assign one to you shortly," Kensi said as she continued her little tour.

"Nice building," Emily commented. "I would have never guessed by looking at the outside."

"That's the point. No one knows we're here."

"I hope you don't mind my asking but I'm just curious. How long have you and your husband been married?" Emily asked.

Kensi tensed slightly but remembered what she and Deeks had discussed. "Actually it hasn't even been two weeks yet," she replied carefully.

"Oh," she said surprised. She started to follow Kensi back into the gym when she said, "Look, I'm not really sure what's happening here. I show up for work on Tuesday morning and my boss tells me I'm temporarily being transferred to LA. He tells me I have two days to get my stuff together and get here with no explanation. I assumed it was because I was being partnered up with someone but I get here and everyone already has a partner. To top it all off, I've received a less than friendly reception from almost everyone. I don't want to be here and you guys obviously don't want me here. Please tell me what I'm missing because I don't think I can take much more of this."

Kensi looked at her and wondered if this was part of her act or if she really was in the dark. She decided to play it safe and just give her the necessary facts. "I'm on desk duty and you were sent here to be my husband's partner until I pass all of my tests and return to the field."

"I see. And they didn't bother to tell you they were sending a woman did they?" she asked softly.

"No, they didn't."

"That explains why you were upset but not the others."

When Kensi didn't offer an explanation Emily decided to push a little harder, "What happened that caused you to be on desk duty?"

Kensi took a deep breath and looked away. It was hard enough talking about what happened with her friends and family. Discussing it with perfect strangers was not something she was willing to do. "It's a long story and I don't want to bore you with it. I'm recovering from a mission that didn't go as planned so can we leave it at that?"

"Sure. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry," she apologized.

"I'll take you back to Callen now."

She found Callen and Deeks where she left them and announced, "All done here."

"Good. We need to get back to work anyway and Hetty needs to talk to Emily," Callen replied.

"You all keep mentioning Hetty. Who is Hetty?" Emily asked.

"Operations Manager," Deeks answered. "Also referred to as 'Mama Bear', 'Little Ninja', and 'The Ghost' but not to her face if you know what's good for you," he said grinning.

Emily laughed a girly laugh and Kensi again felt like she was going to explode. Deeks was much better at hiding his feelings than she ever was. This was going to be the hardest few weeks of her life.

Callen took Emily to Hetty's office then went back to the bullpen. "Verdict?" he asked quietly as he sat at his desk. Kensi relayed the conversation she had with Emily to the rest of the team.

"Maybe we're wrong about her," Sam said. "Maybe she really doesn't know why she was sent here."

"I think we need to be sure before we say or do anything we might regret," Callen replied.

"Agreed," Kensi said nodding.

"Why do I feel like I'm about to go undercover right here in the bullpen?" Deeks whispered seriously.

"I know this is going to be tough, but I'm sure you can pull it off Deeks," Callen replied smiling.

The conversation ended when three male staff members brought in another desk. It was rather small and was placed at the end of the bullpen near Callen and Deeks so that the desks were now in a loose 'U' shape.

* * *

The day had been challenging to say the least. Deeks stopped on their way home and picked up Chinese takeout. Kensi was quiet and his attempts at small talk elicited one word answers. They made it to her house then sat in front of the TV to eat their dinner. Kensi was still giving him the silent treatment and he'd finally had enough.

"Okay, Kens, what's wrong? Why are you mad at me?" he said exasperated.

"I'm not mad at you Deeks."

"Yes you are and if I actually needed confirmation of it, you just gave it to me when you called me Deeks. You haven't called me Deeks in… forever!"

"Don't yell at me!" she said loudly.

"I'm not yelling! Please tell me what I did to make you upset."

"I told you I'm not upset!"

He put his plate down on the coffee table and turned to her. He took her plate and sat it down and reached for her hand. "Look, Kens," he said softly. "I can't fix it if you won't talk to me about it."

She looked away and fought with her raging emotions. It was stupid and silly and she needed to get over it but nothing she tried had worked. The ugly green eyed monster had full control of her and there was nothing she could do to get rid of it. She was embarrassed to admit it and certainly didn't want to talk to him about it. As much as she wanted to deny it, she knew he needed an explanation. It wasn't his fault and she couldn't continue to let him think that it was.

"There's nothing for you to fix De… Marty," she said as she looked back at him. "It's my problem and I'm the one who needs to fix it."

He leaned closer and whispered, "Tell me. Maybe I can help."

She sighed and looked into his beautiful blue eyes. Suddenly the thought of keeping anything from him seemed senseless. She shook her head and started confessing everything.

"I'm sorry Marty. I can't believe how stupid this is but I can't stand the thought of her being your partner. She's beautiful, blonde and… I'm sorry but I guess I'm jealous. She'll be the one who has your back on missions, she'll have to be the one you go undercover with when the op calls for a couple and… and…," she paused to wipe a wayward tear off her cheek, "And she'll be the one you tease and joke with when you're out on a case." She dropped her gaze from his and fought hard to control the tears.

"Kensi…" he whispered as he pulled her to him and hugged her close. "There's no reason to be jealous," he said softly into her hair. "She's just someone I work with, nothing more."

"I know, I know," she muttered. "I just can't help it."

He leaned back and looked into her eyes, "You, my beautiful wife, are the only woman I see when I walk into a room. You're the only one I want by my side in everything I do, and you are most certainly the only woman I want to make love to for the rest of my life." He brushed his hand across her cheek and leaned in to kiss her softly.

He pulled back and added, "Please, please don't ever doubt my love for you Kensi. You're mine and I'm proud of it. I'm proud of you." He kissed her again then smiled at her hoping to cheer her up.

"I don't doubt your love for me Marty. It's just…" she trailed off.

"Just what?"

"If I hear her giggle one more time at one of your jokes, I'm going to shoot her and put her out of our misery!"

Deeks couldn't help but laugh but stopped suddenly when he saw her expression. "It's okay Kens. You want me to stop telling jokes?"

"No, I want her to stop giggling!"

He chuckled and pulled her close again, "What if I concentrate on irritating her? Would that help?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you irritated _me_ and look where we are now!"

He couldn't stop the laughter this time and before long she was laughing too. They finally caught their breath and looked at each other for a moment.

A moment was all it took.

She leaned in and kissed him in the same way she had in the gym earlier in the day. This time there was nothing to stop them from taking it further. Dinner was forgotten as he stood and pulled her up with him. He tugged at her shirt while she unbuttoned his and they kissed their way to the bedroom. They quickly removed the rest of their clothing then he picked her up and laid her carefully on the bed.

He lay down beside her and kissed her softly then rubbed his hand across her slightly rounded stomach. "Tomorrow at eleven, right?" he asked then began to place kisses all around her abdomen.

"Yes. You'll be there with me won't you?"

"Absolutely," he said kissing his way back up to her lips. He kissed her passionately then pulled back to look into her eyes. "You're beautiful," he whispered as he gently brushed her hair away from her face.

"Make love to me Marty," she whispered in the semi-darkness.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said smiling as he pulled her body to his and did as he was told.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N Crazy weekend coming up so I hope this chapter will suffice until I can update next!  
**_

* * *

Deeks crawled out of bed quietly, hoping to not disturb Kensi. He wrote a note and left it on his pillow in case she woke up before he got back from surfing. He needed to clear his head and prepare himself mentally for the day. The situation with the new agent was obviously bothering Kensi and he needed to come up with a solution. One that would keep the team safe from whatever Granger had up his sleeve and also keep Kensi from feeling inadequate and left out. It wasn't going to be an easy task.

After a couple of hours of racing across the waves, he had finally come up with a tentative plan. It would be tricky but hopefully it would work.

* * *

They arrived at the mission a little early and found Emily already at her desk working on a laptop Hetty had given to her. She looked up and smiled, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Kensi replied as Deeks just waved while he took a sip of his coffee.

Kensi eyed her warily as she took in her choice of attire. She was dressed much more casually than the day before with a pair of jeans and sensible shoes. Her top couldn't necessarily be called a t-shirt but it was similar in style although it was a mix of muted greens and blues which obviously brought out the color of her eyes. Her long blonde hair was pulled back and arranged in a bun on the top of her head.

They each sat at their own desks and Deeks asked, "Have you seen Callen or Sam this morning?"

"No, not yet," she said as she continued to type on her computer.

Kensi sent a questioning look his way. He looked at Emily and asked, "What are you working on? We didn't go out in the field yesterday so there shouldn't be any paperwork to do."

"Oh, I'm just finishing up a report I have to send to my boss every day," she answered as she kept typing.

"What kind of report?" Kensi asked suspicious.

"I've been instructed to send him a report daily. It's a pain in the butt if you ask me."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Deeks said frowning. "You're supposed to send a report to your boss every single day and tell him everything we're doing?"

"Yes," she answered hesitantly.

"Didn't Hetty give you the talk? The one where she tells you that you're not allowed to talk about cases with anyone outside this office?" Kensi asked irritated.

"Yes, she did," she said defensively as she stared at her. "But I didn't think that applied to others in the NCIS community."

"We operate on a 'need to know' basis Emily. We do very sensitive undercover work here and the fewer people who know anything about our aliases the better," Deeks said firmly.

Kensi glanced at him with a worried look on her face. "I think you need to talk to Hetty before you send that report. I also think she will probably put a stop to them. Why does your boss want to know what you're doing? Doesn't he trust you?"

"Of course he trusts me! I don't like what you're implying!" she said indignantly.

"Whoa, whoa, let's not get riled up. I don't think Kensi meant it that way," Deeks said trying to keep things from getting out of control. His plan wasn't going to have a chance to succeed if this continued.

Kensi looked at him sheepishly then looked at Emily and replied, "What I meant was, it sounds like he doesn't trust any of his agents if he makes you account for your time like that."

Emily sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. To answer your question, he does have us do daily reports in addition to the usual field reports. It's all rather monotonous and redundant. He's a micromanager to the max."

Deeks looked over at Kensi knowing they were thinking the same thing. Emily's operations manager sounded like someone Granger would admire and had probably enlisted his help.

Kensi shook her head and began working on a cold case file.

"Just don't send that until you talk to Hetty. She'll probably get you to send him a report stripped down to the bare essentials. If this guy is as anal as he sounds, it will probably piss him off but I'm sure Hetty will set him straight," he said with a grin.

Before she could comment, Eric whistled them upstairs. Kensi watched sadly as Emily got up and headed that direction. Deeks stopped at her desk as if he was waiting for her.

"What?"

"Just because you're on desk duty doesn't mean you can't help with a case."

She smiled brightly and stood up, "You're right." She took his hand and they walked up the stairs together. They let go just before they entered Ops to find Sam and Callen already there.

* * *

At ten thirty, Kensi had to leave to go to her doctor's appointment. Sam and Callen had gone to interview a witness while Deeks and Emily had been sent to pick up another and bring him to the boatshed. He was hopeful he would make it back before she had to leave but they were having problems locating the guy.

Kensi waited as long as she could and reluctantly walked to her car. She sent him a text telling him to meet her there. She didn't receive a response.

She was absentmindedly looking through a magazine in the waiting room at the doctor's office. She turned a page then checked her phone hoping for a text from Deeks but became more and more disappointed each time she checked.

"Mrs. Deeks?" the nurse called, looking for her.

She stood up and followed her back to the examination room and again checked her phone. The knot of worry in her chest grew with each passing minute. He would not want to miss being here and he certainly wouldn't intentionally let her worry for no reason.

* * *

Deeks was seething. Not only had the witness not been where they had expected him to be, he had taken off running when they finally did find him. After a foot race that covered two city blocks, Deeks finally tackled the guy and they hauled him back to the car. Instead of being simply a witness, he was now a suspect.

He had told Emily that Kensi was going to see her doctor to get her medical release which would allow her to take her physical tests fairly soon. He had said that he wanted to be with her in case there was a problem. The plan was to drop the bozo off at the boatshed and let Callen and Sam interrogate him while she watched on the monitor in the main room in order to get a feel for the way they did things here.

When they arrived they found a different bozo waiting for them.

Granger was standing smugly in the boatshed when they arrived and insisted that he and Emily interrogate the man instead of waiting on Callen and Sam. With Granger watching them on the monitor it was impossible for him to call or text her.

* * *

Kensi was near tears. It was eleven fifteen and she still had not heard from Deeks. She'd already had a few simple tests run, had answered the doctor's questions about her general health and was about to go to have a sonogram.

"I can tell something is bothering you Mrs. Deeks. You can ask me anything. There are no stupid questions," he said smiling.

"It's nothing like that. My husband was supposed to be here and… and I can't reach him."

"I see. Is this a habit of his?"

"No!" she said quickly. "No, he would be here if there wasn't something wrong. I'm really worried."

He patted her on the shoulder and said, "I'm sure there's a logical explanation. Just try to relax and the nurse will be here in a few minutes to take you to the sonogram room."

He closed the door softly behind him and she immediately checked her phone again. Still nothing. She sent him a simple text that implied how she felt at the moment. She typed several question marks then pushed the send icon.

* * *

Deeks fidgeted as he interrogated the suspect. He was totally distracted and Emily chimed in with a question or two when he was silent. They had been in the room with the suspect for what seemed like forever when Callen and Sam entered.

"Deeks, Hetty needs to see you," he said giving him a nod to let him know he understood what was happening. "We'll take over from here. Emily, why don't you go out and wait with the Assistant Director."

Deeks jumped up and tried not to race out the door. He sauntered out and hoped he could get past Granger without being delayed even further.

"Deeks," Granger said as he tried to leave.

"Yes," he said as he turned back to face him.

"What's wrong with you? I've seen you do a better job of interrogating a suspect and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in what I just saw."

"Guess I'm having an off day Granger. I'm sure you've had a few of them," he said with a straight face.

"Well, get it together and quick. This case could get ugly and fast."

"Will do," he said as he walked out the door leaving Emily with him.

Once he was outside he grabbed his phone and saw the multiple texts from Kensi then cursed softly. He called Eric to let him know that Emily and Granger were in the boatshed and that maybe he should accidently turn on the microphone to listen in. He hurried to the car then jumped in and drove quickly to the doctor's office.

* * *

By the time the sonogram was finished she was in tears. He should have been here. It was so amazing to see the baby for the first time but the experience was incomplete without him. She was now convinced that something had gone terribly wrong and all kinds of awful thoughts were racing through her mind. She went to the restroom to clean off the gel and get dressed. The nurse gave her a copy of the sonogram picture then patted her on the back as she left the room and slowly walked back out to the waiting area. She ducked her head hoping no one would see her tears as she moved to the exit. Just as she was about to reach for the handle the door burst open and Deeks was standing there.

"Oh Kens, I'm so sorry," he said as he hugged her in front of everyone in the room.

Her worry quickly turned to anger as she firmly pushed him away and walked into the hallway. She was oblivious to the stares and frowns from some of the other pregnant women in the room. Once they were out of earshot she turned to him and whispered loudly, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Kens, please calm down. I can explain."

She turned and stomped out the door but by the time she reached the car she was in tears again.

He quietly followed her and reached for her before she could get in her car. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly as she sobbed loudly.

"She leaned back and asked between sobs, "Where were you? I… was so worried… something had happened… to you."

"Shhhh, it's okay. Let's go for a drive and I'll tell you everything and you can tell me what the doctor said. Okay?" He was kicking himself for not contacting her the minute he had the chance. This was absolutely NOT the Kensi he was used to dealing with. Crying, sobbing Kensi had never existed until the hormones had taken over her emotions.

"Okay," she agreed as she shuffled around to the passenger side.

They drove in silence for several minutes then he parked the car near a quiet beach. He grabbed a blanket from the back and they made their way to a spot away from everyone else. She sat down then he sat behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder.

"So tell me what the doctor said. Is the baby okay?"

"Yes, the baby is fine. He said everything looks normal and to come back in a month."

He sat quietly for a minute then asked, "Did you find out?"

"Did I find out what?"

"If it's a boy or a girl?"

"No I didn't. It wouldn't have mattered even if I had asked."

"How come?"

She reached into her bag and pulled out the sonogram picture to show it to him. "The doctor said he or she was a bit camera shy and is turned so that you can't tell."

Deeks was holding the picture in his hand and was uncharacteristically quiet. She turned to look at him and her heart melted at what she saw.

He was overwhelmed with emotion. This tiny little thing was his baby. He smiled as his vision became blurry. He couldn't take his eyes off of the image. The baby was small but it was so well defined already. You could see its tiny little head and its arms and legs. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. He noticed Kensi looking at him and he reached around and put his other hand on her stomach. "This little tiny thing is right here. It's our baby Kensi," he said in amazement.

"I know Marty, and I've had the morning sickness to prove it," she said smiling. "But I know how you feel. This makes it more real doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. We're gonna have a baby!" he said proudly. He hugged her close and whispered, "I wish I could have been with you when you saw this for the first time. I'm so sorry."

"What happened and please don't tell me it had something to do with that woman!"

"No, it didn't. It had to do with someone worse… much worse."

"Who?"

"Granger."

"Oh great. Is he back?"

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. He recounted what had happened and why he hadn't been able to contact her. He apologized for not calling as soon as he was away from the boatshed. In retrospect he agreed he should have done that and promised to keep that in mind for future reference.

He sighed and looked again at the picture. "I wonder which one of us he or she will look like."

"I hope he has your eyes," she said softly.

"And I hope _she_ has yours," he replied grinning.

"Do you really want it to be a girl?"

"Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just happy to be his or her Daddy."

They sat and hugged a while longer and enjoyed the sound of the ocean waves. He kissed the top of her head and sighed, "When I said we could handle whatever life threw at us I wasn't counting on having to deal with so many curve balls in the first week."

She grinned and looked back up at him, "But we're doing okay, right?"

"Absolutely. Now if we can just reign in those rampant hormones…"

She started to punch his arm but stopped herself just in time.

"See what I mean?" he teased as he lifted her up and turned her just enough so that he could kiss her properly. They stayed huddled together for a few more minutes then he reluctantly said, "We should probably head back now. I've got to come up with some sort of excuse for why I left."

"Call Hetty," she suggested. "I'm sure she already has something all prepared for you.

He laughed and replied, "You're probably right."

They stood and shook the sand out of the blanket. She carefully hid the picture of the baby in her purse. As soon as she got the chance she was going to show everyone on the team. Everyone except Emily and Granger of course.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N Let me know what you think Granger is up to! And please review?**_

* * *

Kensi was right. Hetty had taken lunch orders from everyone and called it in to a deli located a significant distance away from the mission. She had Deeks pick it up on his way back.

She told him that Deeks had 'just left' to get lunch when Granger arrived back at Ops. It looked to those who didn't know any better that he'd been gone about thirty minutes when he walked into the bullpen with his arms full of bags. Kensi had been there for about ten minutes already.

Hetty had ordered them to take a break so they were gathered around, eating in the bullpen. Granger had made himself comfortable at Deeks' desk and even with the sound of them chewing the silence was deafening. Sam glanced over at Callen and rolled his eyes.

Callen decided to break the silence. "So Granger, what brings you back to LA so soon?"

He stared at Callen and finished chewing his food. "I didn't think I needed a specific reason to be here Agent Callen."

Kensi watched Emily as she ate. She seemed to be as annoyed with Granger as they were but she wasn't ready to give her the benefit of the doubt yet.

Silence again descended on the group until Hetty walked in and asked Granger if he would please join her in her office.

Once he was out of earshot Deeks said from his perch on the side of Kensi's desk, "Stunning conversationalist isn't he?"

Sam smiled widely and Callen started snickering along with Kensi which started a chain reaction and soon everyone was laughing quietly.

"What a major buzz-kill," Eric offered.

"Reminds me of my boss," Emily added.

"They're probably best buds," Nell snorted.

"Does he come to San Diego often Emily?" Kensi asked.

"I'm sure he stops by here every time he shows up there. He's there maybe twice a month," she replied.

Conversation again stopped when Granger returned to the bullpen.

"Callen and Hannah, I want you two to work on our suspect in the boatshed some more. I'm sure you can break him this afternoon. Keep me posted. Agent Burnett, can I speak with you a moment?"

Granger walked out of the bullpen in the direction of the front door and Emily followed him out. Kensi glanced up at Deeks and then at Callen with a disapproving look on her face.

"Did you get anything when they were in the boatshed?" Deeks asked Eric quietly.

"Either they knew we were listening or they didn't have anything to say because I got nothin'," he replied.

"Well, they look a little too chummy if you ask me," Kensi grunted then took a big bite of her sandwich.

"She looked annoyed to me," Callen replied looking toward the front entrance.

"Even if she is his spy it doesn't mean she has to like him, right?" Deeks asked. "Maybe he's got something on her?"

"Agreed," Sam answered. "I mean, how could anyone like him? He's a major pain in the…"

"Mr. Hannah," Hetty said, officially startling everyone again and effectively ending Sam's rant. "You and Mr. Callen have an angry suspect in the boatshed. I think he's probably ready to talk by now."

Emily walked back in with a scowl on her face but said nothing about what Granger wanted with her.

* * *

They spent the afternoon running down leads that Sam and Callen had gotten from the guy in the boatshed. Emily and Deeks went to pick up another suspect but this one was much easier to apprehend than the idiot from earlier in the day. He didn't run and didn't resist. Those types of busts were rare and Deeks was extremely thankful because his elbow was bruised and sore from his earlier tackle.

On the way back to the boatshed, Emily began asking questions. At first he was on edge but he realized she was just trying to get to know the team dynamics. He decided to turn the tables and start asking her questions.

"So, where are you from originally?"

"Army brat. I was born in Germany but I've lived all over."

"Is your Dad still in?"

"No, he died last year. Heart attack."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that. What about your mom?"

"She died when I was young. It was just me and my Dad for years."

"You and Kensi have a lot in common."

"Really, both of her parents are gone too?"

"No, she still has her Mom. It's a long story and maybe she should be the one to tell it."

They were quiet for a bit then she asked, "What about your parents?"

"Both gone. A long time ago," he replied but didn't elaborate.

"So you grew up in LA?"

"Yep."

"You surf?"

"As often as possible."

"Me too."

"Really? I had you pegged for an indoor type of girl."

"You don't live near some of the best surfing spots in the world and not take advantage of them. Does Kensi surf?"

"She does now. I taught her how," he said proudly. "She's pretty good too. Kensi doesn't do anything without putting one hundred percent effort into it."

"I can see that. I can also tell she doesn't like me much."

"Give her a chance. She's not happy about being on the bench and she doesn't like not being my partner, even if it is temporary."

"And I'm sure it didn't help to find out your new partner is female."

"They didn't tell us much of anything. 'They', meaning Granger." Deeks hoped she would take the bait and talk about the man but she moved on to something else.

"What's Callen's story? He seems all mysterious."

He chuckled and asked, "You haven't heard stories about the legendary G. Callen?"

"Well, yeah but I assumed they were just that… stories."

"Well, they're not. I'm sure they've been exaggerated with the retelling over the years but the truth is in there somewhere."

"Wow. Interesting. What does the G stand for?"

"Good question," he replied as they pulled in at the boatshed to unload their suspect, leaving her to wonder.

* * *

They finally got the answers needed to formally charge the suspects and ship them off to the county jail until they could be transferred elsewhere. The day had been so busy, he hadn't had much of a chance to try to implement his plan to lessen the tension between Kensi and Emily. What they really needed was some down time away from Ops.

"This has been one hell of a week," Deeks said as everyone was packing up their things to leave for the day. "I think we need to go out for drinks and welcome our newest team member. What do you think?" he said sending Callen a subtle look.

"That sounds like a great idea. You up for it Emily?"

"Sure. Why not?" she said smiling.

Kensi was trying not to glare at Deeks but was appalled at his suggestion. What was Emily going to think when everyone was drinking but her?

"And if I remember correctly, I think it's Kensi's turn to be the designated driver," he said grinning mischievously.

She stuck her tongue out at him and let her patented glare run free. This was a really bad idea as far as she was concerned and she definitely let him know about it as soon as they were in the car.

"What were you thinking Deeks?"

"I was thinking that this would be a great way for you two to get to know one another a little better. Maybe we can find out what Granger is up to if you can get close to her."

"Why me?"

"Would you rather I get closer to her?"

"Hell no!" she said emphatically.

He chuckled and grabbed her hand, "You're the logical choice Princess."

She sighed and stared straight ahead. "Fine," she spat.

"Does 'fine' mean you think I'm right? 'Cause that would be just cause for one of my famous happy dances," he said smirking.

"No, it doesn't," she replied pouting.

"Whatever you say Baby Girl but I'm definitely doing a happy dance when we get home!"

She looked at him and rolled her eyes but she couldn't help but smile.

They arrived at one of the team's favorite hang outs and slid into a large booth in the back corner. Deeks made sure Kensi and Emily were sitting next to each other. Hetty had once again declined the invitation but the rest of the team had agreed to join them. He ordered the first round of beers, making sure Kensi had a glass of ginger ale. Once the drinks arrived he started the conversation by telling everyone that Emily was an Army brat and had lived all over the place. It opened the flood gates and soon she was telling them the same things she had told Deeks earlier in the car.

"So it was just you and your Dad?" Kensi asked a little surprised.

"Yes and he was a great Dad. He taught me how to surf, shoot and a ton of other stuff that most girls never get the chance to learn."

"Hey, me too. My Dad taught me how to hotwire a car, fix an engine and probably the best skill I learned from him, other than how to shoot his sniper rifle, was how to pick locks."

"That's awesome!" she said excitedly. "Did he teach you how to track in the woods?"

"Yes! We had more fun camping and tracking animals and even unsuspecting recreational campers!" she said with a chuckle.

Deeks looked and Callen with a barely suppressed grin on his face which Callen returned covertly. His plan just might turn out better than he thought. He had a feeling that Emily and Kensi could be great friends. Well, maybe they could be friends if Granger wasn't throwing a kink in the works.

Sam left around eight o'clock and one by one the others said their goodbyes over the next hour. Deeks couldn't help but grin when Nell left leaving a frowning Eric at the table.

Kensi and Emily were still in deep conversation when Deeks leaned across the table and said in a low voice, "If you left right now you could probably share a cab with her back to Ops."

"Really? You don't think she'll mind?"

"Dude, she was throwing hints all over the place. You and I need to have a chat sometime about the body language of women. Go!" he said, pointing at the door.

"Thanks Deeks!" he said as he climbed out of the booth.

"Hey Eric!"

"What?" he asked turning back to him.

"Ask her to go to the beach with you tomorrow."

"Uhh, you sure?" he asked looking back toward the front door.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Thanks!" he said as he raced to catch Nell.

Deeks grinned and turned back to Kensi and Emily, "So, have you two cracked the secret code to living in the wild for months on end?"

Emily smiled and Kensi chuckled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," Kensi said barely suppressing a laugh.

"I thought you were discussing Mother Nature. Please don't tell me you were talking about me, Fern."

"Okay. We won't tell you," Emily said laughing. "Who's Fern?"

"No, no no. Don't change the subject. What family secrets are you telling her my darling Wifey?"

Kensi and Emily burst out laughing. If being the butt of a joke was helping to bring the two of them together then so be it, he thought.

"I'm sorry Marty," Kensi said between chuckles. "I was just telling her about the day you fell in the canal in Venice."

"For the record, I didn't fall in the canal, I was thrown off a bridge and that video didn't show the part where I beat the guy up."

"He must have been in a really bad way," Emily giggled. "I mean he was able to throw you off a bridge with all those injuries you inflicted on him." She and Kensi burst into laughter again.

"Okay, I think ginger ale and champagne have the same negative effect on you Kensi," he said grinning.

They stayed and talked for about a half hour longer then decided to call it a night. Deeks and Emily had only had two beers each but Kensi insisted on driving her car which came as no surprise to Deeks. They dropped Emily off at her car at the mission then made their way home.

"That went well, don't you think?" Deeks asked once they were on the road.

"It went great," Kensi replied.

"So you agree that she's not so bad and that tonight was a good idea?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh nothin'."

Kensi told him some of the things she had found out about Emily and talked the entire way home which was something that he usually did. He just let her talk and smiled at her enthusiasm.

Once they were inside, he took care of Monty then sat down beside her on the couch with the newspaper in his hand. He turned to the real estate section and they spent the next two hours circling ads for houses they planned to take a look at the next day.

When they were finally finished Deeks said, "Your choice."

"My choice for what?"

"Do you want to see my happy dance in here?" he said as he leaned forward and kissed her softly once then again deeper. "Or," he whispered seductively, "Maybe you want me to do a strip tease in the bedroom?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. "I'll take option number two Marty," she replied as she returned his kiss. She slowly stood and walked backward as she pulled him with her to the bedroom grinning like a lovesick teenager.

* * *

They got up early and went to breakfast at a nearby coffee shop then made a list of the houses they wanted to see and sorted them by neighborhoods so that they wouldn't waste time driving back and forth all over town.

When they were finished, Deeks stood and said, "Are you ready Mrs. Deeks to find our dream home?"

"Yes I am Mr. Deeks!"

They held hands as they walked across the street to Kensi's vehicle and drove out of the parking lot.

If they had known what the outcome of the day was going to be, they would have stayed at home and never attempted the task. Life discussion number two was about to get really complicated.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N So sorry for the delay in posting. I have a crazy life! This is about the joys of house hunting. If you've ever done it you can certainly relate. Some of this is similar to our experience. It started out funny but then it wasn't... Hope you enjoy. Please review!**_

* * *

They had fourteen possibilities on their list and had vowed to take their time and make a day of it. They were looking for either a rental or a home for sale within their price range. Four of the homes were having an open house but the rest were either being sold by the owner or through a real estate agent. Rather than waste time with something they weren't really interested in, they decided to start their day with a cursory drive by of each house to determine if they wanted to call the number on the ad to take a closer look. Since Deeks had lived in LA his entire life he had been able to eliminate the ones in questionable neighborhoods before they even made the list. They had agreed that the house needed to be within a reasonable driving distance of the Mission, should have a fenced in yard and allow pets and also be somewhat near the beach. Deeks was also hopeful for a nice big garden tub but if it didn't have one it wasn't necessarily a deal breaker.

Kensi was excited about the prospect of finding a new place for their growing family to call home. It took almost two hours to find all fourteen houses. Once they had completed the driving tour, the list had been shortened by four. One of the houses was actually a duplex with no yard and was not much more than a glorified apartment. Another was in a decent neighborhood but the house was in obvious disrepair and neither had the desire nor the time to spend doing major home improvements. The other two had 'sold' notices plastered across the yard signs.

They worked their way backward through the list and called to make an appointment at three of the homes. The first appointment was in forty minutes so they drove to the nearest open house to check it out while they were waiting. The moment they stepped in the door, they knew it wasn't the one for them.

"What's that smell?" Kensi whispered as they walked inside.

Deeks grimaced and looked around hoping to find the source of the putrid odor. "I think a herd of cats must have lived here," Deeks commented quietly. There was another couple in the kitchen area and he noticed the woman had her hand over her nose. The realtor must have been in the back of the house with other prospective clients. How they managed to get that far was a mystery.

Kensi looked at Deeks wide eyed and said, "I think I'm gonna be sick." She raced back out the front door and made a beeline for the rose bushes near the corner of the house and promptly threw up her breakfast.

"Kensi, are you okay?" Deeks asked as he caught up with her and gently rubbed her back.

"I'm fine… I mean good," she said wiping her mouth with a tissue from her purse. She felt better but there was no way she was going back in the house with that smell. "Can we go get some water?"

"Sure, let's go." He carefully guided her to the car and they drove to the nearest convenience store. He ran in and bought a bottle of water then quickly returned to the car. "We don't have to do this today. Why don't we go home and try again another time," he said trying to hide his worry.

"No, really. I'll be fine. It was just that smell. I thought I was passed the morning sickness but I guess not."

"I've got morning sickness because of that smell!" he said grinning. "I have a feeling that one is going to be on the market for a long, long time. However, they should be pleased that you fertilized their bushes."

She laughed and said, "Let's go. We don't want to miss our appointment."

Kensi was feeling much better by the time they arrived at the first house. It was the home of an elderly couple that was selling it without the help of a realtor. They had lived there for almost thirty years and it looked it. It was smaller than they expected and it hadn't been painted since the Reagan administration.

There was clutter and knick-knacks covering every available surface. Deeks wondered how many years it would actually take them to pack up everything. After a quick walk through, they thanked the couple and explained that they had another appointment in just a few minutes.

Once they were in the car, Deeks commented, "Promise me we won't be like that in thirty years."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the clutter. You do have hoarding tendencies," he said smirking.

"Hey!" she said chuckling. "I'm doing much better!"

"Yes you are and I intend to make sure you stick with your twelve step therapy," he grinned as he reached for her hand and squeezed it happily.

The next house must have been built in the early 1900's. They met the realtor at the front door and entered the empty house. She tried her best to describe the house in flattering terms such as 'quaint', 'vintage' and 'old fashioned'. Deeks just thought it was 'old'.

They kept their composure until they reached the car then started laughing.

"Can you believe that kitchen?" Kensi asked between fits of laughter.

Deeks paused long enough to reply, "There was such a huge dip in the floor that I almost fell on my face. Just when I thought I was in the clear I stepped in another one!"

They continued to laugh as they headed to the next appointment. Again the realtor was waiting out front and Kensi smiled brightly as she got out of the car. This one actually had potential.

This house was also empty and the tour started out well enough but got progressively worse as they moved from room to room. The layout was terrible and the master bedroom had no windows. The only room that was remotely suitable to be used as a nursery had two walls that were nothing but windows. Just the thought of their baby being in a room that was so easily accessible to threats was frightening.

They left the house and were a bit disappointed.

Deeks noticed the slight frown on her face and decided they needed a break. "You must be hungry," Deeks said as he held her hand on the way to the car. "How about we take a breather, have some lunch and I'll call and make a few more appointments."

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed as they got back in the car.

There were six houses to go with three that actually needed appointments. Deeks made the calls as they sat at the café waiting for their lunch to be delivered to their table.

"We have three open houses and three appointments left. I'm confident one of them will be perfect for us," Deeks said smiling.

"I hope so. This is exhausting," she said as she looked at the list.

After lunch they attended two open houses before their next appointment. It seemed the ones in the worst shape were the ones with the open house policy. Maybe it was a desperate move on the owner's part in hopes of selling a home that had been on the market for quite a long period of time. They left both with no thoughts of returning.

* * *

Kensi and Deeks plopped down on the couch and stared straight ahead saying nothing for several minutes. Finally Deeks spoke.

"What an absolute waste of time," he said softly.

"Agreed," she replied sadly. "What are we going to do Marty?"

The rest of the afternoon had been a complete bust. The houses were just not what they were looking for. One of them turned out to be much more expensive than what was listed in the ad. The realtor insisted it was a typo but Deeks wasn't so sure. The others just didn't feel comfortable. As he thought through of all the ones they had seen he realized they weren't being overly picky, the houses just weren't what they needed. Too big, too old, too badly in need of repair, too expensive, too smelly, too small, too exposed. The list went on and on.

He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm not sure, Babe. Maybe we need to get some help. Maybe go through a realtor or a property management company or something."

"Something," she said tiredly.

He turned to face her and said, "In the meantime, what if…" he paused.

"What if what?"

"What if… we pack up my place and Monty and I move in here with you for real. I mean, until we find a place of our own. We've got a few months. There's no pressure to find something right away."

She smiled and hugged him before placing a kiss on his cheek. "I think that's a great idea."

"Awesome! We can start packing tomorrow."

"O thank God! I was afraid you wanted to go look at houses again tomorrow."

"Oh, no, no. Let's get some advice first before we head back out to the cold, cruel streets," he said grinning.

She smiled and then yawned uncontrollably.

"Nap time," he said patting her arm. "I'll make us some dinner while you and Monty chill here on the couch."

"Okay," she said softly. She curled up one end and was asleep before Deeks made it into the kitchen.

Deeks got up early Sunday and surfed for a little while. The water was cold so the urge to surf longer wasn't an issue. Christmas was just around the corner so the number of surfers had dropped considerably. He picked up a few donuts on his way back to Kensi's place. He didn't get as many as he used to. Kensi had insisted she wasn't going to get fat and had cut down on her daily donut intake. He smiled as he remembered the conversation. He had suggested she cut them out completely but the look she gave him could have melted stone so he let it go. He did however make fewer trips to pick them up and often made up excuses. They had already had the 'I'm fat' conversation twice and she was barely showing. He couldn't imagine what it was going to be like when there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was pregnant.

They had gone shopping one evening when they returned from their honeymoon to buy her some clothes that were a bit larger. She got a few loose fitting shirts and some jeans that were two sizes bigger than her usual size two. She was subdued that evening and getting her to smile had been difficult. He hoped when they were able to openly admit to being pregnant, she would adjust to the idea of a growing stomach and wouldn't be so depressed about it.

He entered the house to find Monty waiting at the door. He checked to make sure Kensi was still asleep then left her a note about the donuts. He made some coffee for her and took a mug with him on his morning walk with Monty. They returned about half an hour later to find a very sleepy Kensi sitting on the couch with the cutest bed hair he had ever seen.

"Rough night Princess?" he asked smirking.

"Yes. I kept dreaming of cats falling into craters in our kitchen," she slurred.

He laughed and sat next to her smiling. "I dreamed of beautifully flowering bushes."

She grinned and asked, "Where's breakfast?"

"Didn't you read your note?"

"What note?"

"I left it on my pillow. Did you eat it?" he teased.

"No! I must have rolled over and knocked it off," she said testily.

"Well, there are donuts in the kitchen," he said as he leaned in to give her a kiss. Before he could complete the move she was up and racing to the kitchen.

"Okay," he said as he leaned toward thin air.

"Are we really going to pack up your stuff today?" she mumbled with a mouth full of pastry.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked as he got up and followed her to the kitchen.

She swallowed and asked again, "Are we really going to pack up your apartment today? I mean, we don't have any boxes or tape or anything."

"All taken care of," he said as he took the fresh donut she had just picked up out of her hand and started eating it.

"That was mine," she stated firmly.

He pointed at the last donut in the bag and kept eating. "I kept my boxes in case I needed to move in a hurry and I have plenty of tape."

"Move in a hurry? What do you mean?"

"In case I got made during an undercover op and had to get out fast with no trace."

"Did that ever happen to you?"

"Once."

"You had to completely move and cut all ties? Just like that?"

"Yes."

"What about your friends?"

"Um, I didn't really have any friends left in that neighborhood," he said as he looked away.

She looked at him and saw the sadness in his features. "What happened Marty?" she asked softly.

He didn't want to tell her. It was awful and he knew her immediate thought would be for the safety of their child. It was different now that he had real backup and he couldn't imagine something like that happening again but it would put all kinds of unwanted thoughts in her head.

"Can we talk about it later? We really need to get going if we're going to get it all done today."

She knew better than to push but she could tell it was something that haunted him. She would wait and see if he talked about it on his own but she wouldn't wait forever.

* * *

They climbed the stairs to his apartment and she was glad they weren't moving in here. She couldn't imagine carrying a baby and all the stuff babies need up two flights of stairs every time they came home.

The apartment was stuffy and Deeks opened up the windows to get some fresh air. He had been by to pick up things and to get his mail a few times but he hadn't been here much in the last couple of months. Because of his need to disappear on a regular basis, his lease contract was month to month and would be easy to break. The plan was to pack the place up and keep the boxes stored here in hopes of finding a new place to live before they had to move them out.

Kensi looked around and asked, "Am I gonna find stuff in here that's gonna make me mad?"

"Like what?" he asked.

"You know, bachelor stuff. Like nudie magazines or your little black book or questionable movies?"

He laughed and pulled her to him as he wrapped his arms around her. "I quit looking at 'nudie magazines' as you call them when I was in high school and I don't have a little black book."

"What about the movies?"

"I just rented and returned them all," he said grinning.

"Seriously Deeks!" she said trying to pull away.

"Come on, Kens. You know I'm joking right? Well, sort of…"

She glared at him and wriggled out of his arms.

"Kensi… okay, I rented them a couple of times when we had bachelor parties for guys at the precinct but never just for me. Why would I need to do that?"

"Oh, because you had so many women you didn't need porn?" she spat angrily.

He sighed and moved to where she was standing with her arms crossed. "Kensi, please don't do this," he said softly. He brushed her hair behind her ears. "Yes, there were other women but not a lot of them. You knew that. It's all in the past now. You are all I will ever want or need. You were what I was looking for all those years. This…" he said pointing at the room, "is about to go away. We'll sort through it all and get rid of whatever you don't want to keep. I promise there are no naughty secrets lurking in my closets."

She looked up and smiled shyly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. You're right, it's in the past." She kissed him softly then hugged him tightly. "You're mine now and I guess I haven't really grasped that concept."

"Yes, I am all yours Mrs. Deeks."

She looked up at him and just as he thought she was going to kiss him she began tickling him in the ribs.

He laughed and jumped back away from her. "Did you really just tickle me? Kensi Bly… Deeks actually tickled me! Well, we can't let that go without some sort of retaliation now can we?" he grinned mischievously.

"You wouldn't tickle a pregnant woman would you?" she asked backing away.

"I wouldn't?" he asked moving slowly toward her.

She squealed and took off running all through the apartment with him close on her heels. She knew she was in trouble when she ran into his bedroom.

There was no escape.

She giggled loudly when he scooped her up and tossed her gently onto the bed. Soft tickles soon turned into to passionate caresses and all thoughts of packing were put on hold for the moment.

Some things were just more important Deeks thought. Like proving to your wife that she is your reason for living.

* * *

_**T B C...**_


	9. Chapter 9

They eventually got out of bed, although reluctantly, and got dressed. They had a whole apartment to pack up and it wasn't going to happen if they kept snuggling. Deeks got the boxes out of the storage closet where he had placed them after breaking them down. He taped them back up and they began working in the kitchen.

It took a couple of hours to sort through the utensils, appliances and dishes to decide if they were keeping his or hers. Except for the new things she had bought during her cooking experiments they decided to keep most of his stuff. His sets were complete. Hers were not. She dreaded when they would start doing this at her place. There was twice as much stuff and she knew there would be arguments over some of it.

Deeks picked up sandwiches for a short lunch break then they started packing his bedroom and the closets.

To his credit, she didn't find anything that irritated her other than the condoms in his night stand next to the bed. She couldn't get mad about it since she still had a small supply in hers as well.

The only argument they had was over his cheap painting of _'Dogs Playing Poker'_.

"That's not going in our house," she said adamantly.

"Why not? We could hang it in our bedroom," he teased.

"Not happening," she said as she pulled clothes out of his dresser drawers.

"Come on Baby, please?"

"No Deeks. It's time to grow up and buy tasteful décor."

"Look who's talking about growing up. You, who can't keep up with a full set of dishes yet still have an entire set of jelly bracelets that you wore in middle school."

"That's different," she argued.

"Different how?"

"They're keepsakes."

"Keepsakes?" he said rolling his eyes in Kensi fashion. "Okay fine, then my picture is a keepsake. We can store it next to your jelly bracelets in the attic."

She sighed but couldn't help but smile to herself. He was such a child but he was so adorable.

* * *

The alarm had gone off much too soon for their liking but they managed to get up and make it to work on time. However they did have to bypass the donut shop.

Callen looked up and laughed when he saw them as they walked into the bullpen. "Rough weekend?" he asked.

"You have no idea," Kensi replied as she plopped down in her chair.

Deeks made no comment. He went straight for the coffee and got a cup for himself and Kensi.

"Did Deeks make you go to some weird yoga class for… mothers to be?" he asked quietly looking around.

Emily hadn't arrived yet but there were other ears around that didn't need to know everything.

"No I did not, but thanks for the suggestion," Deeks said grinning at Kensi.

"So what was so bad?" Sam asked curious.

"We went house hunting," Deeks exclaimed before he dropped his head to his desk.

"It couldn't have been that bad," Sam grinned.

"Oh, yes it could," Kensi replied rolling her eyes.

"Did you know that open houses cause morning sickness in women and men?" Deeks commented still face down on his desk.

Callen changed the course of the conversation when he noticed Emily walking in. "Any luck house hunting? Oh hey Emily."

They all greeted one another and Emily asked, "What's this about house hunting?"

Kensi looked at Deeks who still had his head down and replied, "We went hunting but we didn't find anything."

"You should ask Hetty if she knows someone who can help. She knows everyone or rather, everyone knows her," Sam said as he opened a file on his desk.

Deeks' head snapped up and he looked at Kensi. "Oh wow, Hetty. Why didn't we think of that before we wasted the whole day?" He jumped up and motioned for Kensi to follow him to Hetty's office.

She was sitting at her desk when they approached and she motioned for them to have a seat.

"Please don't tell me you have more earth shattering news. I don't think I can handle much more," she said somewhat seriously.

Deeks chuckled and replied, "No Hetty, no news. We just wanted to ask if you knew someone who could help us find a house."

"Are you looking for something in particular?"

They looked at each other then took turns telling Hetty exactly what they were looking for.

"Let me make some calls and I'll get back to you."

"Thanks Hetty," Kensi said as she stood up.

"Whatever you come up with has got to be better than what we found on Saturday. Thanks Hetty," Deeks said gratefully.

The atmosphere in the bullpen was much more relaxed than it had been. Their evening out on Friday had done wonders to ease the tension between the two women but the wariness was still there in their conversations around Emily.

With no urgent cases pending, Kensi decided to go workout in the gym. She couldn't put her body through her usual strenuous routine but she could definitely do the exercises prescribed by her doctor in one of the many pamphlets she had been given.

She had been stretching for about fifteen minutes when Emily joined her.

"Hey, want some company?" Emily said cheerfully.

"Sure," she replied nervously. Her exercise attire didn't exactly hide the baby bump so she had worn a loose shirt over it. She hoped Emily wouldn't notice.

"Let me go change and I'll be right out."

A few short minutes later, Emily came out of the locker room looking like a model for a fitness magazine.

"Wanna spar?" she asked as she loosened the muscles in her arms.

Kensi tensed slightly and tried to shrug it off. Sparring was definitely on the no-no list. "Maybe later, I'm not really in the mood at the moment."

"Okay, just let me know when you're ready," she said as she sat down and began stretching.

They made small talk and Kensi shared a little about their house hunting woes. After a while, Emily asked again if she was ready to spar. Kensi was trying to think of an excuse when Deeks walked in.

"Hey ladies, we have a case."

"Okay, thanks. We'll be right there," Kensi answered relieved.

* * *

Deeks and Emily were sent to pick up another suspect but again things didn't go as planned. They knocked on the door and listened for movement but heard nothing. Deeks knocked again and this time they heard a door squeak inside the house.

"I'm going to the back, you stay here," Deeks said then raced around the small house. As he turned the corner he was surprised by a kick to his arm from the suspect and his gun flew out of his hand. The perp proceeded to throw punches in his direction. Before he was able to land the knockout punch, the guy had managed to get in a few licks of his own. Emily came racing around the house to find them both lying on the ground. Deeks was bleeding from a cut on his cheek and the suspect was out cold.

"Why didn't you yell for me to come help you?" she asked as she knelt down to check his wound.

"I was a little busy," he said as he slowly sat up. His right eye was going to be very colorful in a couple of hours and his cheek wasn't much better.

"You need to get that cut checked out. It's pretty deep," she said worried.

"I think it was from that freakin' ring," he said pointing at the suspect's hand. "Let's get this jerk to the boatshed." He got up and dusted himself off, ignoring the blood dripping onto his shirt.

After dumping the cuffed and now fully conscious suspect in the interrogation room, Emily made a beeline for the first aid kit hanging on the wall in the main room.

"Sit down Marty," she ordered as she opened the case and looked through the contents.

He reluctantly sat down and suddenly noticed the big dark patch of blood on his shirt.

She got out the antiseptic wipes and began cleaning the blood away from the cut on his cheek.

He winced and closed his eyes, wishing she would finish quickly.

The wipe was completely soaked and before she could open another one the door flew open and Kensi rushed in.

"Oh, God! What happened?" She stood still in the doorway unable to move when she saw the blood on his shirt.

He smiled and said, "I'm okay Princess." He turned to Emily and said, "No offense but I'd prefer it if my beautiful wife took care of this."

Kensi finally found her legs and quickly made her way to him. Emily gladly backed away and sat down on the couch.

"Really, I'm fine Kens. He just got in a lucky punch… or two."

Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she gently finished wiping the cut then carefully covered it with a bandage from the kit. She brushed his uninjured cheek and kissed it softly.

He stood slowly and said, "I'm okay. Stop thinking." He ran his fingers through her hair then pulled her close for a reassuring kiss.

Emily couldn't help but smile. She looked away, knowing they had forgotten she was there. She didn't want to intrude in their private moment and a part of her was a little envious of their relationship. How they managed to juggle the demands of their job and a marriage she had no idea but they were obviously making it work.

The door creaked open suddenly and Sam and Callen came in with the intention of interrogating the suspect. They immediately started asking questions and checking to make sure Deeks was all right.

* * *

By the time they were preparing to go home for the day, Deeks' eye and cheek were dark and colorful. Kensi had given him an ice pack but it hadn't helped much. She felt a pang of regret every time she looked at him. Maybe if she had been with him, it wouldn't have happened. She knew she shouldn't be second guessing everything but she couldn't help it.

"Come on, let's get you home so I can check your bandage," Kensi said patting his arm.

"Ooh, TLC from my wife. Awesome!"

She laughed and hooked her arm in his as they said goodbye and walked out of the bullpen.

Emily smiled and turned to Callen after they were gone, "Have they always been like that?"

"Like what?"

"You know, all happy and mushy."

"God no. You should have seen them when they were first partnered up."

"I was sure she was gonna kill him," Sam added smirking.

Emily picked up her go bag then asked, "So what happened to change things?"

Callen looked at Sam then back at Emily, "I guess if you had to name one thing, I would say it was mutual respect for each other."

Sam added, "That and the fact that he annoyed the hell out of her."

Emily looked confused and Callen clarified, "It was his way of getting her to open up. I never would have thought it would work but it did."

She thought about it a minute then said, "They're good together."

Callen said goodnight as she left the bullpen and watched as she walked away. He turned to pick up his stuff and saw Sam watching him. "What?"

"Don't even think about it G."

"Think about what?"

"Emily, that's what. We don't even know where her loyalties lie and…"

"And what? Where is this coming from? I didn't say a word!"

"I know that look G."

"What look? You're crazy Sam," he argued as he started toward the door.

Sam sighed and followed him out. "I'm just keeping my partner grounded."

"Oh, really? Sounds like you're trying to be my mother!"

Sam shook his head and decided to let it go. He was getting nowhere.

* * *

Once they were home Kensi made him sit in a chair in the kitchen while she checked his bandage and put more antibiotic cream on his cut. She had given him some pain medicine as well.

"Admit it, you like playing nurse," he teased as she gently put a fresh bandage on his cheek.

"I don't like playing nurse when you're hurt," she replied irritated.

"Ooh that means you want to play nurse just for the fun of it, right?"

"I don't want to play nurse at all, Deeks."

"Uh, oh. What's wrong Kens?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Yes there is. You called me Deeks again." He reached up and placed his hands on her hips. "What did I do?"

She picked up a fresh ice pack and gently pressed it to his eye. "You didn't do anything wrong," she said softly.

"Then what is it?"

She swallowed hard and brushed back his hair. "I didn't have your back today," she whispered fighting tears.

"Kensi, Baby, this isn't your fault. Even if you had been there, it still might have happened."

"Maybe so, maybe not. But…"

"No buts. You have to trust me to take care of myself and you also have to trust Emily to have my back... temporarily, of course. Your job right now is to take care of Baby Deeks." He leaned toward her and kissed her tummy. "He or she needs a nice, safe, worry free zone in there."

She placed the ice pack down on the table then smiled and rubbed her stomach. "I'm not going to be able to hide it much longer."

He hadn't mentioned it but she was definitely beginning to look pregnant.

"Emily wanted to spar today. How can I keep putting her off?"

"Let me talk to Callen about it. Maybe he or Sam could challenge her regularly then she will be too tired to suggest it with you," he said then tried to stifle a yawn.

"How about I make us some dinner and you go get comfortable on the couch with Monty and your ice pack."

"You spoil me Princess," he said with a lopsided grin.

"Well, don't get used to it."

He leaned forward again and said facing her tummy, "Did you hear that? Mommy is being mean to Daddy."

She laughed and gently pushed away from him. "Go! I'll have dinner ready in just a little while."

He smiled at her as he got up. He walked over and pulled her into a hug. "Have I told you today that I love you?"

"Not that I can recall."

He rocked slightly from side to side as he held her and said, "I love you Kens."

"I love you too Marty."

They continued to hug and slowly shuffle dance to the silence in the house for a while before she eventually shooed him out of the kitchen to the couch. Despite the huge black eye with the startling white bandage beneath it on his face, Kensi realized it was actually the first relaxing evening they'd had at home since they came back.

* * *

Kensi was due to take her psyche eval on Thursday and one of her fitness evaluations on Friday. She spent her spare time working out and preparing for her weapons test to be taken the following week. She probably needed to postpone a couple of them in order to stretch out the time needed before they had to tell Granger about the baby. Somehow she didn't think there was enough time in the world to push this past him.

On Wednesday afternoon the calm was shattered when Granger arrived unannounced. Kensi had on a loose shirt but felt it was safer to just stay seated behind her desk. He blustered through a few times but never addressed her directly. He wasn't there very long but when he asked to see Emily again in private, she glanced over at Deeks and frowned. Once they were out of sight, she whispered, "Okay, we have to do something about this. If she's reporting things to him, maybe we need to give her something worthwhile to report." She looked at Callen and tilted her head as if asking him to agree.

He sighed and glanced at Sam before turning back to Kensi, "Leave that to me. I'm working on something."

"What?" Deeks asked curious.

Before he could elaborate, Emily walked back in practically stomping to her desk and frowning deeply.

"What's wrong Emily?" Callen asked watching her body language.

"It's Granger! He… I… never mind," she replied as she opened a file on her desk.

"He has that effect on all of us. Don't let him get to you," Callen offered smiling.

She looked up at him and slowly the frown began to disappear. "You're right. I just need to vent and get rid of some stress. Hey Kensi, you up to sparring today?" she asked as she turned to her.

"Uhhh, I don't…" she began but was interrupted by Callen.

"I'm game. If you think you're up to the challenge," he offered smugly.

"Bring it!" she said standing up.

"I'll meet you on the mat," he said as he headed to the gym with her right behind him.

"Ten bucks says she takes him," Deeks said to Kensi.

"My money's on Callen," she countered.

"Then it's a bet. What about you Sam?" Deeks asked.

Sam looked in the direction of the gym and said, "I'm out."

"What, you don't even want to go watch?'

"Nope. I've got work to do."

Deeks glanced at Kensi and frowned knowing something was up between the senior partners but knew better than to ask. Sam wouldn't tell them anyway. Whatever it was he had a feeling it was going to get worse before it got better.

* * *

_**A/N Please, please review!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N Loved the season opener! I especially loved Deeks in a suit with no tie... sigh. Please forgive me for this chapter. I hated writing part of it but it was necessary... for the story. Please review! (but don't shout!)**_

* * *

Kensi and Deeks made their way to the gym to watch Emily and Callen's sparring match. He wondered what exactly was up between Sam and Callen. He had asked them to run interference between Emily and Kensi when it came to sparring and they had both agreed willingly so it couldn't have been about that. He supposed it had to do with whatever Callen said he was working on when it came to Emily and Granger.

They entered the gym to find Callen already on the mat waiting on Emily. She showed up a minute or so later and asked Kensi to help her get her gloves on and tightened properly.

"So, is this a timed thing or are you just sparring until one of you lands three punches?" Deeks asked smiling at Callen.

"Probably timed. I'm sure Emily wants more than just the minute of workout she'll get before I win," he said grinning at her.

"We'll see about that," she returned confidently.

Deeks walked to the nearest bench and sat down then patted the empty space next to him indicating for Kensi to join him. She happily complied and they waited for the match to begin.

Emily stepped on the mat and wasted no time before she raised her hands and began to circle her opponent.

Callen spent a couple of minutes watching her moves and attempts to take a swing at him. When he was sure he had her figured out he made an attempt to land a punch in her ribs. He was surprised at her agility and quickness when she managed to dodge the blow. He flashed a smile in her direction which she returned. The smile was just enough of a distraction for Emily to land a punch to his shoulder.

"Point Emily!" Deeks said loudly earning a glare from Kensi.

Callen shook off his surprise and concentrated on using a different strategy. Instead of depending on his abilities he tried to exploit her weaknesses. Distractions and misdirects always seemed to work with Kensi.

"So, how long have you known Assistant Director Granger?" he asked between fake jabs.

She hesitated just long enough for him to make contact with her ribs.

"Point Callen!" Kensi shouted turning to smirk at Deeks.

Emily backed up a bit then got back into position. "Not as long as you, I'm sure," she answered taking a swing and missing.

She decided to add her own bit of misdirection to the contest. "You do realize you're telegraphing your swings, right?"

He shook his head, knowing what she was trying to do. "I'm pretty sure I'm not," he said as he landed another blow to her shoulder.

"Callen two, Emily one!" Kensi shrieked.

Emily circled him grinning and obviously thinking about her next move when she again dodged another quick jab by Callen. Before he could recover from the swing, she caught him with a right hook to the torso and left to his ribs winning easily.

"Emily wins and Kensi owes me ten bucks!" Deeks chirped.

Callen pulled off his gloves and waited for Emily to do the same then held out his hand. "Nice job."

She accepted it and said, "Thanks," as she shook his hand. She found herself staring into his deep blue eyes and realized she had held on a bit longer than necessary. "Uh, I guess I should get dressed and back to work." She walked back into the ladies locker room and Callen went to the men's.

Kensi sat on the bench frowningm irritated that she had lost the bet to Deeks.

"Did you see that?" Deeks asked quietly.

"Yes, I saw Emily beat Callen. You don't have to gloat!"

"No, not that. That!" he whispered as he pointed to the mat.

"What are you talking about?"

"She… he… they… Oh wow. I think something's going on between those two."

"Marty, you're crazy. They just met and besides, he doesn't trust her. None of us do."

Deeks dropped it but he was certain of what he saw and he was the master at reading a woman's body language. Well, at least until he met Kensi. She kept him guessing about everything which just made his life more adventurous as far as he was concerned.

They returned to the bullpen to find Hetty waiting with a business card in her hand.

"Mr. Deeks, I have here the name of a realtor who should be very helpful. She said she had a few houses you might be interested in and would be willing to meet with you on Saturday."

"Thanks Hetty," he said as he took the card. "I'll call and make the appointment right now."

"Thank you so much Hetty," Kensi said as their boss exited the bullpen.

"You're quite welcome, Mrs. Deeks."

Sam didn't even smile when Deeks told him that Emily had won. He just grunted and continued to look at whatever he was working on. Deeks suddenly had a thought. _'What if Sam knew about what he had just observed between Emily and Callen?' _ That would most definitely cause a problem between them. Not because Callen was involved with a woman, but because that woman happened to be Emily. As far as the team was concerned, until proven otherwise, Emily was the enemy. He didn't dare bring it up. Sam may be upset with Callen but he was still loyal and would most definitely deny it anyway.

* * *

After Kensi and Deeks had left for the day, Sam remained at his desk reading through their daily international incident reports. Emily gathered her things and said goodnight a few minutes later.

Callen stood and looked at Sam after Emily left, "So, you want to tell me why you're giving me the silent treatment?"

He looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear, "You know why. What you're doing is dangerous for us as a team and for you as our leader."

"What I'm doing? What _am_ I doing Sam?" he asked, obviously angry.

"You like her. And don't try to deny it. You let her win that match didn't you?" he whispered loudly.

Callen laughed and replied, "No, I didn't let her win. She won fair and square. Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe I had a plan?"

Sam sat quietly for a moment then asked, "What kind of plan?"

"If I can get close to her, then maybe she'll open up to me and tell me what Granger is up to."

Sam snorted, "Get close? How close?"

"As close as necessary," he stated firmly.

"And what happens if we find out she's not his snitch after all? After you've betrayed her trust and used her?"

Callen was quiet and didn't reply.

"Oh no! It's too late isn't it? She's been here less than a week and you've already fallen for her haven't you?"

"I'm not discussing this with you Sam," he said as he picked up his go bag and headed out the door.

"We're not done G.!" he called after him.

Callen said nothing and kept walking.

* * *

The tension between Sam and Callen was thick and everyone tried to find excuses to be somewhere else. Kensi had gone up into ops to talk to Nell and covertly show her the sonogram picture.

Nell squealed quietly. "Oh my gosh, she's adorable!"

"She? Why do you think it's a she?" Kensi asked confused.

"I… don't know," she sputtered.

"What she's not telling you is that we have a bet on it," Eric whispered grinning.

"You bet on my baby's sex?" Kensi asked laughing. "Don't you have anything better to do?" she said looking directly at Nell grinning.

Before they could comment further the door opened and Emily walked in. Nell nonchalantly placed the picture in a folder beside her computer and said hello.

"Hey guys. There you are Kensi, I was wondering where you went. I need some fresh air. Wanna go grab some lunch with me?"

"Uhh, sure," she answered wondering what was up.

They went to a café a few blocks away and settled into a nice comfortable conversation about Hetty and NCIS in general. Kensi was instantly on guard when Emily asked about Deeks and how they met."

"We'll, we met on an undercover op. Neither of us knew the other was in law enforcement."

"Ooh, sounds exciting. What happened?"

Kensi told her the story and about how Hetty had recruited him to be their LAPD liaison officer. She gave brief details about their rocky start as partners then told her about the kidnapping and how he had taken care of her afterward. She of course left out the private details and about the baby.

Emily smiled and commented, "He's a great guy Kensi. He's a good partner too. You are a very lucky woman."

Kensi smiled and agreed. "What about you? Anyone in your life?"

"No, not really. I thought I was getting close to someone but I found out he was just using me."

"I'm sorry," Kensi said softly. "There's lots of other fish, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure you've heard it a million times too."

Emily laughed, "Unfortunately."

"My problem wasn't really in looking for fish," Kensi offered. "Mine was not seeing what was right in front of me. Well, actually I saw him. I just didn't want to admit that I was in love with him."

"I get it. Co-workers and lovers. Not usually a good combination but you two have managed it quite well. I'm actually a bit envious."

"Don't be. You'll find yours. _'You just have to keep your eyes open.' _ Hetty told me that once. It was actually good advice."

They finished up and made their way back to the mission. Kensi was taking her psyche eval in a few hours and she needed time to clear her mind.

* * *

The exam now completed, she felt she had done well but wouldn't find out for sure until sometime next week. Now that it was over, she realized that some of the questions she had been asked had hit a few raw nerves. Things she thought she had gotten past but now she wasn't so sure. She probably needed to talk to Marty about it but didn't really want to bring all of it back up again. It had been hard on him too and they were doing really well. Why should she open up old wounds?

One of her fitness tests was scheduled for the next day and she asked Hetty if she would postpone it. They needed to stretch out the time as much as possible before they would certify her ready to go back in the field. If Granger found out they had known she was pregnant all along and hadn't disclosed the information, there was no telling what he would do to their partnership.

* * *

Kensi was thankful for the weekend. The tension around the office had only gotten worse between Sam and Callen. She had no idea what was going on and was afraid to ask. She and Deeks had discussed it but hadn't come up with a logical explanation. She had the feeling he knew something or at least suspected something and wasn't telling her although she couldn't be sure.

Callen and Emily seemed to be getting along fairly well. Sam wasn't even making an effort to get to know her better which just made the tension even worse. Something had to be done soon or else. She didn't even want to think about the implications of the _'or else.'_

They were on their way to meet the realtor at the first house of the day. They had no idea how many were on the list but had vowed to look at them with an open mind. They were going to have to settle for something one way or the other. If they had to do some repair work, then so be it. It would take longer to move in but they were willing to do whatever was necessary to find a place to live.

Deeks was worried about the neighborhood where they were meeting the realtor. It was really close to the beach which was definitely not a problem but the value of the homes was well out of their price range. He didn't want to tour a really great house and then find out they couldn't afford it. Kensi was a practical person and would understand completely but he didn't want to disappoint her.

When they parked at the address he had been given, his worst fears were confirmed. It was absolutely beautiful. They yard was immaculate and there was even a white picket fence around the back. The realtor was waiting out front and greeted them warmly.

"Hi, I'm Reagan. Hetty told me a lot about you."

They introduced themselves and Deeks asked, "How do you know Hetty?"

"She and my father were good friends a long time ago. I've known her all my life it seems."

Deeks nodded and pointed to her notebook, "How many houses are on the list to look at today?"

"Oh, just this one. Hetty said there was no need to drag you all over Los Angeles. Please, come inside."

Deeks' heart sank. He looked at Kensi and saw the excitement on her face and they weren't even inside the house yet. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

They followed her inside and immediately gawked at what they saw. Perfect, was the only word that came to mind. The living area was open with lots of light and an attached kitchen that looked as if it had been recently remodeled. There was a bar dividing the two rooms with a large pantry just off the back of the kitchen. There was a huge dining room in the back of the house and also an area that could be used as an office. To make it complete there was a decent sized bathroom underneath the staircase.

Reagan opened a set of French doors and showed them a beautiful backyard with a swimming pool. It wasn't huge but it was most definitely a swimming pool.

There was no way on earth they were going to be able to afford the house, Deeks lamented. They hadn't even discussed if this was a rental or for sale. There wasn't a sign in the yard but even if it was a rental it would be way too pricey.

Deeks grew more and more concerned as he watched Kensi look through the rooms. Her smile only grew larger with each one. His only hope was that something would be horribly wrong with the second floor.

There wasn't.

His hopes were dashed as soon as they reached the top of the stairs. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a laundry room upstairs. The master suite was at the back of the house while the other two bedrooms were at the front on either side of the stair case. Either of them would be perfect for a nursery.

He hung back as they entered the master suite. It was going to be such a letdown when they had to admit they couldn't afford it. It was beautiful and everything they had wanted in a house.

The bedroom had a balcony that opened up to the backyard. The ceiling was recessed and the lighting was worthy of a movie set. He assumed the bathroom had a huge walk-in closet in the back. Why wouldn't it? Everything else in the house was perfect.

He stood on the balcony looking at the rose bushes trailing along the back of the white picket fence wondering how he was going to break it to Kensi. He wished he had been better at saving money but like most single men, he hadn't saved much at all.

He was dragged out of his gloomy thoughts when he heard Kensi call out.

"Marty, you've got to come see this!"

He turned and walked hesitantly to the master bath and stopped short as he entered the room. Sitting opposite the double vanity and mirror area was a beautiful garden tub with spa jets. It was as big as or bigger than the one in the apartment for his 'David Granderson' alias and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

She moved to him and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Can you believe this house? It's perfect, right?"

His smile slowly faded as he put his arm across her shoulders, "Yes, it is perfect Princess but I don't see how we can afford it."

He turned to Reagan and asked, "Is this a rental or is it for sale?"

"Well, actually it's both. It's your choice. You can sign a lease for however long you like or you can do a 'lease to own contract,' meaning you would pay monthly rent to the owner but it would go toward paying for the house. Sort of like a bank loan without all the hassle," she said smiling.

Deeks looked at Kensi then back to Reagan and asked, "And how much is it per month?" He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

When she quoted the priced he flinched. Not because it was high, but because it wasn't. It was actually just a little more than what he and Kensi had been paying for both of their rents combined. He had received a significant raise when he joined NCIS and the realization that they could do this was suddenly overwhelming.

He smiled at Kensi but didn't need to ask a thing. She just nodded slightly and he turned back to Reagan and said, "Where do we sign?"

* * *

Their excitement was hard to contain. They stopped at a few places on the way back home to pick up empty boxes then started sorting through things in her spare bedroom. The plan was to spend the rest of the month packing and taking things over a little at a time, then move in officially after the first of the year. They would spend their first Christmas together in Kensi's little place but he could envision many more Christmases with their children in their new house.

The more he thought about their unbelievable good fortune, the more he realized it was more than that. It was probably Hetty. She would never admit it but he had a feeling she was their wonderful fairy godmother. He would keep his suspicions to himself for now but he would eventually find a way to thank her.

* * *

Callen smiled at Kensi and glanced at Sam, hoping to catch his attention. Her enthusiasm was contagious and had actually done wonders to cut the tension between the senior partners. Sam looked at Callen and shook his head but with a grin plastered on his face.

"So Kensi, Is the house perfect?" Callen asked with a smirk after she used the word to describe the house for the tenth time.

She laughed and replied, "Yes, it is and as soon as we get moved in, we're having a pool party and inviting everyone over."

"We are?" Deeks asked grinning. "Uh, Kens, you do realize we won't be moving in until January right? It's a bit too chilly to be having pool parties."

"Okay, then we'll just have a party… outside… by the pool."

Sam laughed and asked, "So I'm assuming we will be having a 'moving party' prior to the pool party?"

"Absolutely!" Deeks replied grinning.

As soon as they arrived that morning, he had thanked Hetty for the name of the realtor and told her about the house. She gave nothing away and he pretended not to know she had helped in anyway. It was okay for now but he truly wanted to thank her someday.

* * *

On Wednesday, Kensi took one of her physical tests and failed it. It was an agility test which measured her speed and reflexes and she was simply too slow. She realized that her 'slow' was probably much faster than most people and maybe even other agents but she was being measured against her own past performance and it wasn't really close. They had rescheduled the test for the next week.

She texted Deeks and asked him to meet her in the storage room. When he arrived she was sitting in the corner with red eyes and a hopeless look on her face.

"Kensi honey, what's wrong?" he asked sitting next to her and pulling her into a hug.

"I failed my test."

"Oh," he said realizing why she was in this state. "But it's okay right? It gives us a little more time and you and I both know that as soon as you pop this baby out, you'll be back to your old self in no time."

She couldn't help but laugh, "Pop the baby out? Really Marty? I'd like to see you try it."

He rubbed her tummy and kissed the top of her head, "I think I'll leave that up to you but I'll definitely be there so you can punch, cuss and yell at me all you want."

She sighed and said with defeat in her voice, "We have to go shopping again. My bras don't fit anymore and everything is just… uncomfortable."

He reached up and cupped his hand over one of her breasts and caressed her gently. "I was wondering when you were going to say something," he whispered softly.

He leaned in to kiss her but she backed away and said,"You mean you noticed and didn't say anything?"

He left his hand where it was and gave her a crooked grin, "How could I not? I'm very fond of them and I do spend a lot of time with them."

She blushed and leaned in for a slow kiss. One thing led to another and before long he was unbuttoning her shirt and placing kisses down her neck and on her slightly larger breasts.

Just as he reached around to unhook her bra she stiffened and said, "Listen!"

He paused and listened, "I don't hear anything."

"Shhh!" she said with her finger across her lips. She suddenly jumped up and began re-buttoning her blouse.

"Oh, come on," he coaxed as he tried to pull her back down beside him.

She looked at him with real fear in her eyes and whispered, "Remember what Hetty said about finding us in the storage room? Well I don't want to find out what she'll do if she catches us."

At that Deeks jumped up and covertly checked to make sure the coast was clear before they left the large closet.

"So does this mean I get a rain check on our 'activities' for later… like tonight?"

"We'll see," she said grinning playfully.

"Awesome."

* * *

Kensi was really down. After their night of shopping for underwear that actually fit and forcing herself to buy 'stretchy pants' she was really feeling unattractive. No matter what he did to try to cheer her up, it hadn't worked. He tried to resume their 'storage room' activities hoping it would help her self esteem but that hadn't worked either. After three months of looking like a swimsuit model instead of an expectant mother it seemed like she had blossomed almost overnight. Now at four months, it was getting harder and harder to hide it. Her breasts were noticeably larger (not that he was complaining) and her tummy was definitely pooching.

According to the scales she had only gained four pounds but those four pounds were definitely wreaking havoc on her wardrobe and her self-confidence. Not because she didn't want to be pregnant but because most people couldn't know and would assume she was getting fat. It was a vicious circle and until they finally let Granger in on their little secret, it was only going to get worse. Deeks decided that he would talk to Hetty and see if it could happen sooner rather than later.

* * *

He woke her up a bit earlier than usual so he could take her out for breakfast before they drove in to work. Most mornings they were racing out of the house and barely had time to drive through and get coffee. He wanted to start their day right and hopefully brighten her mood.

"Why are we here? I'm not sure why you had to drag me out of bed so early this morning," she said frowning as they waited for their order.

"I told you. Baby Deeks needs something besides donuts for breakfast and you need to relax and smell the ocean breeze."

"Baby Deeks loves donuts," she said tapping her foot.

Deeks smiled and reached across the table to grab her hands. "How could he or she not like them? It's practically a food group to you," he said with a crooked smile.

She looked at him and rolled her eyes but he noticed a small smile tugging at her lips.

"So, when do you think we can start moving into the house?" she asked changing the subject. When he didn't answer she realized he was looking at something behind her.

She started to turn and look but he tugged on her hands and said, "No, don't turn around."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure yet but I think that guy is up to no good."

She stared at him and watched his features as he focused on someone waiting in line at the counter. Before she could ask another question, Deeks let go of her hands and jumped up just as she heard a woman scream.

"My purse! Oh my God, he just stole my purse!"

"Wait here," he said to Kensi as he raced out of the café to chase the thief.

She sat for only a second before she jumped up and quickly followed him out. She took off running, keeping him in her sights. There was no way she was going to let him do this alone. The guy could have a gun or he could have friends waiting for him just around the corner. She kept running as she pulled her phone out of her purse and called 911. She told them what had happened between gasps of air and exactly where they were headed then hung up and kept pace with Deeks and the perp.

She was relieved when she saw Deeks tackle him and pull his hands back to cuff him. She finally made it to where he was and handed him a nylon cuff from her purse.

"I thought I told you to wait at the café," he said frustrated as he got up and tried to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry… but I wanted to make sure… you were safe!" she replied between gasps as she heard sirens in the distance. "Besides… I called LAPD… and they're already on their way."

He reluctantly smiled at her and turned back to talk to the purse snatcher. "What's your problem man? You think grabbing purses from elderly women is cool? Well it's not! It's actually pretty pathetic." He yanked him up onto his feet just as the squad car turned the corner.

Kensi stood back to watch and tried to slow down her breathing.

Thankfully, it was an officer that Deeks knew well and one without a lot of negative history between them. He explained what had happened and where they had been when the chase started. He was in the middle of his official statement when he turned to point at Kensi and stopped mid-sentence.

She was ghostly white and clutching her stomach.

"Kensi," he said as he started toward her. Before he could reach her, she fell forward on her knees.

"Kensi!" he yelled as he ran to catch her before she fell further.

"Marty, the baby…" she said as she cried. "No, please no!"

He carefully pulled her onto his lap and hugged her tight then yelled to the police officer, "Please, call an ambulance!"

"Kensi, breathe Baby. Shhh… calm down and take deep breaths," he said softly even though his heart was beating out of his chest.

"Marty it hurts… Our baby! Please, no! I'm so sorry," she said between sobs.

He turned to the officer, who was already on his radio and yelled,

"Tell them she's four months pregnant!"


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N So sorry for the delay! Busy with lots of stuff this week not to mention my birthday! Thanks for the reviews and alerts. They are the best birthday present ever! Now... concerning Baby Deeks...**_

* * *

He held her hand and tried to calm her down all the way to the doors of the emergency room where he wasn't allowed to go. He kissed her forehead then stepped back so they could wheel her away. He stood there and stared at the double doors for what seemed like forever.

He didn't know what to do. _Should he call Hetty? Should he call Julia?_ He found himself pacing back and forth in front of the doors until a duty nurse stood in front of him and blocked his path.

"Is there something I can do for you, sir?" she asked politely.

"No, I… my wife is in there… I… I don't know," he finally said, feeling totally lost.

"Would you like me to show you the way to the waiting room?"

"Is that where the doctor will come to find me?"

"Yes, as soon as he possibly can."

"Okay," he replied, sounding like a lost child. He followed her down the hall as his thoughts raced through his head. Kensi had been frightened and in pain but mostly she was afraid. Afraid of losing the baby and afraid it was her fault. He had never seen her cry like that and he hoped he never had the opportunity to see it again. It was heartbreaking.

They reached the waiting room and he was surprised to see that it was occupied only by an elderly man and a young mother with a small child. They seemed to be together, possibly waiting for news about a family member. He thanked the nurse then sat in the far corner of the room. He sat for about thirty seconds before he was up and pacing again. He looked at his watch and realized he needed to call Hetty before she had Eric track them down. He continued his trek back and forth across his area of the room while he tried to quietly explain to her what had happened. Hetty assured him everything would be fine and that she would be there shortly.

He prayed Hetty was right. She couldn't lose the baby. He knew Kensi better than he knew himself and he was absolutely positive she would never forgive herself if the baby didn't make it.

Kensi was who he cared most about. Yes, he would be devastated if they lost the baby but as long as she was safe he would manage to cope. Again he prayed for a miracle.

Twenty minutes later, he heard several pairs of footsteps approaching and steeled himself, knowing the relative quiet couldn't last. Emergency Room waiting areas are usually overcrowded and extremely noisy. Maybe that was what he needed. A distraction to keep his mind from thinking about all the possible things that could happen. He continued his pacing and looked up to see not only Hetty but also Sam, Callen, Nell and Emily.

Nell raced toward him and hugged him briefly, "What happened?"

He glanced over at Emily then turned back to frown at Nell. _How could he tell them anything with her here?_

"I don't really know," he replied. His voice cracked and he fought hard to check his emotions. He took a deep breath and continued, "I was chasing a suspect and told her to stay put…"

"Chasing a suspect? What suspect?" Callen asked surprised.

Deeks shook his head and explained, "A purse snatcher from the café this morning." I took off after him and… Kensi followed me."

"Did she get shot?" Emily asked worried.

"No, she wasn't injured by the suspect," he said quietly. He could see the confusion on Emily's face but didn't bother to explain further.

"If I had just let him go she would be okay…"

"Come on Deeks, you know you couldn't have done that. It's not who you are," Sam said in his defense.

"But I'm not LAPD anymore Sam. I should have stayed with Kensi."

"Mr. Deeks, I think what Mr. Hanna is trying to say is that it doesn't matter if you're LAPD or NCIS, it's in your blood. We all have that instinct and sitting idly by and watching someone get hurt or robbed is simply not an option so stop beating yourself up about it," Hetty said reassuringly.

"I don't understand," Emily said. "What exactly happened to Kensi? Does this have something to do with her kidnapping injuries?"

Deeks looked at Callen and slumped his shoulders, defeated. He turned and walked away to hide his tears from the others. Sam followed and put his arm around his shoulders but said nothing.

Callen looked at Hetty then at Emily and started to speak when a doctor walked in and called out, "Mr. Deeks?"

His head jerked up and he moved quickly to the doctor, wiping his eyes as he went. "How is she?" he asked, his voice higher pitched than normal. The rest of the group stood behind him and listened intently.

"She's stable and in ICU at the moment. She needs lots of rest but I think, in time, she will be just fine."

Deeks swallowed hard and opened his mouth to ask about the baby but nothing came out. He felt fresh tears slide down his cheeks and the doctor placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The baby is fine Mr. Deeks. We were worried there for awhile but once we got her calm and her blood pressure down things improved quickly. She will need to be on bed rest for at least a month and by that I mean she can only get up to go to the restroom or to see the doctor. She was spotting badly but we think it has stopped. We're keeping a close eye on her for a couple of days just to make sure."

Deeks didn't realize he had been holding his breath. He sighed heavily then looked up and closed his eyes as he felt his friends patting him on the back. "Thanks Doc. Thank you so much," he said finally smiling.

The doctor turned to leave and Deeks said, "Oh, one more thing… I'm just wondering, did this happen because she was running?"

He smiled at him and replied, "No, but it didn't help. A previous injury caused some internal damage and the more she grows the more pressure is applied to the area. The jolts from running just irritated it more but I'm confident with bed rest and limited exercise she and the baby will be just fine."

"Thanks again Doc. Can I see her?" he asked hopefully.

"Soon. I'll send a nurse out to get you when she's ready."

Deeks shook the doctor's hand then turned back to see the smiles on everyone's faces. Well, everyone's but Emily's. She was just staring with her mouth open.

"Kensi's pregnant?" she asked incredulously.

Callen looked at Deeks then turned to Emily and tried to explain, "They wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer."

"But you all obviously knew, right? So, why all the secrecy?"

No one knew what to say. Callen finally replied, "Granger threatened to split them up as partners so they wanted to prove they could still work together. They were afraid he wouldn't give them the chance if he knew she was pregnant."

"I understand. I do. But I don't understand why you didn't think you could trust me with the information," she said quietly. She moved to a seat against the wall and Callen followed.

Sam just watched then turned to Hetty, "Well, cat's out of the bag now. What do we do?"

Hetty looked up at Deeks and said, "This could be the best possible test. If she keeps it to herself, then you will know you can trust her, correct?"

Sam sighed then looked over at Callen and Emily and said, "I really hope she passes."

A few minutes later, a nurse came to get Deeks. He followed impatiently and finally arrived at her room. He was immediately reminded of the last time she was laid up in a hospital bed. He quickly brushed the unwanted memories aside and tried to plaster a smile on his face. Her eyes were closed as he quietly moved toward her bed. Her color was back and she looked almost peaceful. Almost. There was a slight crease on her forehead and he knew she was still worried, even in her sleep. He grasped her hand in his and leaned over to place a kiss on her worry lines.

As soon as his lips touched her forehead she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I'm so sorry," she choked out as tears began to fall down her face.

"Kens, it's okay. Please don't cry," he said softly as he pulled her into a hug and smiled at her. "You're going to be fine and so is Baby Deeks."

"I should have… done what you asked… and stayed at… the coffee shop," she said between sniffles.

"Shhh, it's okay. I shouldn't have chased the bastard. Please, please don't blame yourself for this." He gently brushed her hair with his hand and tried to lighten the mood.

"However, you do look really hot when you run in those boots."

She chuckled slightly then looked up at him seriously, "I guess Granger will find out now won't he?"

"I don't know. We'll see. Emily knows but I don't think she'll tell him."

"Emily? How did she find out?"

"She's here. They're all here except Eric. Someone had to hold down the fort."

The worry line returned to her forehead and he gently rubbed it. "Stop worrying about it. If he finds out, we'll deal with it somehow." He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips."

When he pulled back, Kensi reached up and traced a line down his cheek with her hand. "You aren't such a tough guy after all are you?" she said softly with a hint of a smile.

"Why would you think that?" he asked confused.

She looked at his face and said, "You've been crying haven't you?"

He was quiet for a moment and then replied honestly, "Yes. I was just worried about you. About you and the baby."

She smiled and patted his hand, "I love that about you."

He grinned and asked, "Is that all that you love about me?"

"Not by a long shot."

"Good, because you might need to make a list to keep them all fresh in your mind. I have a feeling that the next month is going to be a bit… challenging."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you, Mrs. Deeks, will be lying around in the lap of luxury while I will be packing up your things and moving them into our new house."

"But…"

"No buts, doctor's orders. I promise I won't make any decisions without your approval but you have to promise me one thing."

She sighed, "What's that?"

He pulled her close and looked directly into her eyes, "That you will absolutely follow the doctor's orders and not try to do anything but protect our baby and rest."

"I promise."

"And one other thing," he said grinning.

She looked at him with a matching grin of her own and replied, "Yes?"

"Don't get mad at me when I have to keep reminding you of your promise."

She feigned a hurt expression and lightly punched him in his arm."

"Now, see, that's not allowed, Princess. Besides, you said you weren't going to do that anymore."

She chuckled and shot back, "I try really hard but sometimes…"

"May I come in?" Hetty asked from the doorway.

Deeks stood up but continued to hold her hand. "Of course, Hetty."

"How are you feeling Mrs. Deeks?" she asked as she walked to her bedside.

"I'm okay but more importantly, the baby is good."

"I'm very glad to hear that. I don't want you to worry about Granger. I'll tell him you had a setback in your recovery which will also explain the failed agility test. Hopefully, he won't ask questions and we can keep this quiet for a bit longer."

"I'm really sorry, Hetty. I know you don't like lying to him," Kensi apologized.

"Pshhh, I could care less about lying to that weasel. I just want you to take care of yourself and the baby."

"I will Hetty."

"Good. Then I'll be on my way." She turned to leave but stopped and turned back. "I believe you have a few anxious co-workers waiting to visit. May I send them in?"

Deeks turned to look at Kensi who was smiling at Hetty, "Yes, please. Thanks Hetty."

She left the room and the rest of the team filed in just after. Nell was the first in and walked quickly to Kensi. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good, Nell. Hey Sam, Callen. Hi Emily."

Callen grinned and commented, "Poor Deeks."

"Poor Deeks? Why poor Deeks?" he asked confused.

"Kensi… still and immobile… for a month. I'm glad it's you and not me buddy."

Deeks grinned and turned back to Kensi. "I think I can handle it," he said then kissed her forehead.

"I don't know why you are so worried about it. I'm not that bad."

Sam and Callen coughed and turned away while Nell and Deeks just glanced at each other and smiled.

"What?" Kensi asked irritated.

"Princess, I think there are a couple of nurses here who specifically asked NOT to be your caretakers. Remember the last couple of days you were here the last time?"

She just glared at him and said nothing.

He turned to Emily and explained with a smirk, "I had nurses giving me their numbers and sympathies. When Kensi gets bored, well, let's just say that everyone knows about it."

"I was fine. I just wanted to go home," she said pouting.

Deeks brushed her hair back and said, "I'm not worried about it, Baby. We have so much stuff to go through, I don't think you'll have a chance to be bored. Besides, you can shop for baby furniture online and plan how you want to decorate the nursery. You'll have plenty to do."

She smiled at him then looked over at Emily, "You guys will stop by and visit often, right?"

"Absolutely," Emily said as the others nodded. "And for the record, your secret is safe with me."

Kensi reached up with her other hand and took Emily's. "Thanks Em," she said as she squeezed her hand.

They were interrupted when a nurse with a wary look on her face walked in and saw the crowd. "Folks, I think Mrs. Deeks needs her rest. Besides, I'm pretty sure only one person at a time is allowed in here.

Sam smiled and replied, "We were just on our way out. Kensi, take care of that little guy or gal. We'll see you later." He patted her shoulder and headed to the door.

Each team member said their goodbyes and the nurse left shortly afterward. Kensi and Deeks were again alone. He leaned down and gently rubbed her tiny round belly. "Hey Baby Deeks," he whispered softly. "We're really sorry we put you through that this morning but I promise it won't happen again. Mommy and Daddy are going to make sure you have a comfy, quiet little room in there for the next few months. It's gonna be great! You won't want to come out!"

"Marty," Kensi said chuckling.

"What? I read that you should talk to your baby before they're born so they'll know your voice."

"You read that? You have actually read about babies?"

"Yeah, why? We're gonna have one so I need to know what to expect right?"

She smiled and patted his arm, "You continue to surprise me every day."

"Good. Wouldn't want you getting bored with me now would I?"

"Never happen."

He kissed her gently and said softly, "We are most definitely on an adventure of a lifetime and I wouldn't want to share it with anyone but you."

* * *

Owen Granger sat at his desk and heard a beep come from his cell phone. He reached in his pocket, pulled it out and read the short text message. His face became instantly red as his blood pressure spiked. Deeks and Blye had lied to him. No one lied to him and got away with it. Now the question he had to answer was whether or not they had all lied to him.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N I know I sound like a broken record but I really appreciate the reviews. Please keep them coming! Disclaimer: I don't own them... just the occasional new character or five.**_

* * *

Hetty returned to her office and frowned at the note placed beside her phone. She also noticed the tiny light blinking on the base which indicated that she had several missed calls. She suddenly became very worried. Her fears were confirmed when she checked her caller ID. Granger had called repeatedly in the relatively short time she had been away. She picked up the phone and pushed a button.

"Mr. Beale, did you leave this note on my desk?"

"Uh, what note? I mean… no, I've haven't left my chair this morning."

"Any strange phone calls I should know about?"

"Define strange. I'm sorry, never mind. No strange calls that I know of," he said nervously.

"Thank you Mr. Beale," she said as she hung up.

She glanced around the room and eyed each employee within view but saw nothing suspicious. She looked back down at the note and hoped she was wrong. There was nothing left to do but return his call. She checked the phone number on the note to make sure it was indeed Granger's and dialed.

"You called?" she said without greeting.

"Yes, Hetty. Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all morning."

"Is there something wrong?" she replied without answering his question.

"There might be."

"I'm all ears. Please enlighten me."

"It's come to my attention that we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Personnel."

"What are you talking about Owen?"

"It seems I have an entire team that has lied to me."

"Lied about what and to what team are you referring?"

"I think you know, Hetty."

"Owen, I have much more important things to do than to sit here and play games with you. Now get to the point!"

"Did you know that Blye was pregnant?"

Hetty closed her eyes but didn't pause before she answered, "Yes, I found out just this morning about Mrs. Deeks and had planned to call you this afternoon. May I ask how you found out?"

"I have resources too Hetty and I _will_ find out if anyone else knew about this before today."

Hetty chuckled and said, "Be my guest but it is a waste of your time and _'resources',"_ she said with emphasis. "They only found out recently and decided to keep it to themselves. There were complications this morning and we all found out about it when she was taken to the hospital. End of story. I don't understand why this is such a big deal to you," she said trying to make light of the matter.

"I don't like being lied to Hetty."

"Like you haven't lied to anyone before. Let it go. I'm sure you have much more pressing matters to attend to. Besides, last time I checked, I was still in charge of the Los Angeles office. I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to micromanage my team, Owen."

He was silent for a moment then replied, "I'm watching you closely Hetty. I would tread lightly if I were you."

"Are you threatening me Owen?"

"No. Just stating facts."

"Are you done? Because I would really like to get back to work."

"Goodbye Hetty."

She hung up the phone without a response. Again she glanced around at the staff. The rest of the team had just returned and she couldn't help but look at Emily. Had she told him? She looked down at the hand written note to call Granger on her desk. There was no way she could have left this here so who did? She sighed heavily and slowly stood up. She walked to the bullpen and got everyone's attention.

"I need to see you all up in Ops right away." She turned and started up the steps with everyone behind her.

Eric turned toward the door when it opened and was surprised to see everyone filing in.

"May I have the room please?" Hetty asked. The other staff members got up and made their way out of Ops. Hetty waited until she was sure no one else was around before she spoke.

"It seems that someone tipped off Granger about what happened this morning."

"What?" Sam asked incredulous, turning to glare at Emily.

"Wha… you think I told him? No way! I hate that bastard and I would never do that to them!" Emily practically shouted.

"Then why does Granger want to speak to you privately every time he stops by?" Callen asked quietly.

"I can't believe this. You think I'm his spy?"

"Just answer the question," Sam snapped.

Emily folded her arms in front of her and spoke but her anger was barely in check, "He asked me if I've ever noticed any of you doing something you shouldn't. Or if you go about getting information illegally."

"And what did you tell him?" Callen asked.

"I told him no, of course! I don't make a habit of ratting out my colleagues! What do you think I am?" She tapped her foot on the floor angrily. "And for the record, Granger was directly responsible for almost getting my last partner killed so why in hell would I do anything to help him?"

The room was suddenly quiet.

Hetty slowly stepped forward and explained, "Miss Burnett, Assistant Director Granger assigned you to us himself. We were given no choice in the matter which led us to believe he wanted someone here who would keep an eye on us. We have not had a very good relationship with the man so please forgive us for our paranoia."

She moved around to face them all. "I don't believe Miss Burnett is the one who contacted him. I found a hand written note to call Granger on my desk when I returned from the hospital. I'm afraid it is someone here on our staff."

She looked at Sam who was busy looking down at his feet.

"Granger is on the warpath about being lied to so let's get our stories straight shall we?"

They all nodded agreement.

"We found out this morning that Mr. and Mrs. Deeks were expecting a baby. We are very happy the baby is doing well and are excited about the addition to our NCIS family. Are we clear?"

"Yes," they all agreed in unison.

"Good. Miss Burnett, may I see you in my office?" Hetty walked out of Ops with Emily on her heels.

Sam turned to Callen and said quietly, "I'm sorry G."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. We all need to apologize to her, myself included."

Nell nodded agreement and added, "But someone here is spying on us and we need to find out who it is."

"I've got an idea about how to handle that," Callen said with a smirk.

* * *

Kensi was resting and Deeks was sitting in the chair beside her bed. They had moved her to a private room and were checking on her every hour. The TV was on but the sound was turned off. Julia had been by to visit and had just left. He was hoping Kensi would finally get some sleep. His cell phone buzzed and he quietly got up to step outside and answer it.

"Deeks."

"Hey, Hetty asked me to call and let you know what is going on," Emily said hesitantly.

"Everything okay?"

"Not really. Please believe me when I tell you I had absolutely nothing to do with this."

"What's wrong Emily?"

"Granger knows."

"What?" he whispered loudly.

Emily told him what they suspected and assured him they were working to find out who had blabbed.

"Great. Now what do we do?"

She informed him of what Hetty had told everyone so they would know what to say when the time came to explain themselves to Granger.

"Thanks for letting me know Emily. And I just want to say we're sorry for not trusting you."

"I understand. I would be worried about him too if I was in your position."

"Thanks. Talk to you later."

He hung up and leaned against the wall outside the door. He had a bad feeling about Granger. This was exactly what he needed to cause trouble for them and for the team.

He walked back into her room to find her awake. "Hey Beautiful. How are you feeling?" he said grinning.

"Good. What's wrong?"

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "You know me so well it's scary."

"I could say the same for you but don't change the subject."

He sighed and relayed the information he just received from Emily.

Kensi closed her eyes and shook her head. They were quiet for a moment then Kensi started to smile. She turned to Deeks and said, "We don't have to hide it anymore from anyone."

"Wow, you're right. We can tell everybody!" Just as he finished the sentence a nurse walked into the room. "Hey, we're having a baby!" he said loudly.

"Uh, yes I know," she replied confused.

Kensi laughed and rubbed her tummy, "Your Daddy is crazy!"

He placed his hand on top of hers and replied, "Crazy in love with your Mommy!"

* * *

Emily returned to her desk in the bullpen and sat down without speaking to anyone.

Sam looked at Callen then got up and walked over to her. "Emily," he began, looking extremely embarrassed. "I'm very sorry for the way I've been acting and for not trusting you."

She looked up at him and said stiffly, "Don't worry about it." She opened up a file on her desk and began reading.

"I know we probably should have given you the benefit of the doubt but we're not very trusting people and it's hard for us. The people we trust have earned it. I'm not saying you haven't, I'm just saying… I'm sorry."

She looked at him and smiled. "I get it. Apology accepted." She held out her hand to him and he shook it gladly. He glanced over at Callen and excused himself as he made his way to the gym.

Emily looked at Callen and asked, "Are you about to give me a big apology speech too?"

"Hadn't planned on it," he replied grinning.

She was at a loss as to how to respond. Before she could think of something to say he quietly stood and walked to her desk.

"I was hoping I could do better than a speech."

"Oh? And how would you go about doing that?"

"How about dinner tonight? I'll pick you up at seven. I know this great place near the beach."

She looked at him skeptically and replied, "Is this a team thing?"

"No. Just me trying to apologize for being a jerk."

"Okay, then. I'll be ready at seven," she said smiling.

* * *

Hetty made a few discreet phone calls and had the dates changed on Kensi's medical records to reflect a more recent date for her visits to the doctor. She took the note she had received earlier up to Nell and asked her to do an analysis of the handwriting and try to compare it to that of the current staff.

Nell smiled and accepted the task gratefully. She would be happy to find the lowlife who was reporting to Granger. After several hours of sifting through files and handwriting samples, her eyes were beginning to burn. It was late but she had narrowed it down to three possibilities. There were approximately twenty other staffers in the building during a regular workday not including Hetty or the team. She was able to eliminate some of them quickly but others were a bit harder to evaluate. The three possible offenders were relatively new. Carlos, a thirty year old army brat had been employed for about three months. He was a weapons specialist and took care of the armory. Steve had only been here a month since being transferred from the Marine West Field Office at Camp Pendleton. He was a research analyst chained to his computer but he planned to become an agent someday. The last possibility was a woman. Her name was Patricia and she was actually an agent but her specialty was cyber threats which meant her field work was done in her office on her computer. She had been on site for almost six months.

Nell carefully put away her notes, locking them in the secure filing cabinet. Eric had left a couple of hours ago and she was fairly certain she was alone in the building but she wasn't taking any chances. She gathered her things and left Ops with a smile on her face. She would give the information to Callen tomorrow morning. They were going to have fun figuring out who was the snitch.

* * *

Callen had picked up Emily at precisely seven o'clock. He couldn't help but stare when she opened the door. Her blonde hair was down and curly and her green casual dress brought out the color of her eyes. They had finished dinner and were having a conversation about the pros and cons of living in LA when he realized he had been staring at her all evening. She was beautiful and he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

They laughed and talked for almost three hours. He had never been on a date that lasted longer than just dinner and drinks, unless of course it had continued at her place and talking was unnecessary. Of course this wasn't officially a date but it was dinner with a woman. A very beautiful, intelligent woman. He never wanted to talk much because he never had anything to say. His childhood wasn't worth discussing and most of his adult life was classified. It was refreshing to be able to be himself around someone. Someone who knew his real name. Well, at least she knew as much as he did. There were still things he couldn't discuss but he wasn't worried about it. There hadn't been any awkward silences.

Afterward they took a walk along the beach and reluctantly decided to call it a night since they had to be at work the next day. He drove her home and walked her to the door. He had an overwhelming desire to kiss her but knew it would be wildly inappropriate. This was an apology dinner and nothing more. They were teammates and lines were not to be crossed. Not that they hadn't been crossed before. Kensi and Deeks were living proof of that but he wasn't Deeks and Emily wasn't Kensi. She was temporary and he wasn't interested in getting involved with anyone.

"I had a great time tonight Callen," she said after she unlocked her door.

"So did I. Thanks for accepting my apology," he grinned.

"Anytime. Not that I want you to do anything that would require another apology…"

"Not planning on it."

She smiled then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight Callen."

"Goodnight Emily." He stood outside her door and waited until he heard her hook the chain lock on the inside.

He smiled as he walked back to his car. It may not have been a real date but it was much more fun than any date he had been on recently. He got behind the wheel and drove home using a long, complicated route. He found himself humming the tune of a song he had heard at the restaurant and looking forward to seeing her in the morning at work.

* * *

Kensi couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. They had kept her awake most of the night and she was exhausted. She looked over at Deeks who was asleep in the chair. She was sure he would have a sore neck because of the angle of his head.

"Marty," she called softly.

"What?" he answered as he sat up quickly, grimacing. He rubbed his neck and stood up to move closer to her.

"I'm sorry to wake you but you looked so uncomfortable."

"I'm okay. How are you feeling?" he asked as he kissed her forehead.

"Like I'm gonna scream if I don't get out of here soon."

"Uh oh, we can't have that or we'll have to find another hospital when the baby comes. You're already on super secret probation," he teased.

"Seriously, I gotta get out of here and soon," she replied ignoring the jab.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll be able to bust you out of here in a few hours." He looked at her seriously and asked, "So what do you want to do when we get home? I can go pick up anything you want. Puzzles, books, video games? I can bring my X-Box and set it up if you want. What sounds interesting to you?"

She sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not looking forward to just lying around for a whole month. I can barely sit still at work," she said obviously frustrated. "I'm worried about becoming a bitchy wife. I really don't want to be like that." She looked up at him with a frown on her forehead.

He chuckled lightly and reached around her to pull her into a tight hug. "I'm not worried about it Kens. I think I can handle whatever you throw at me," he said as he leaned back to look at her. "It's not like you haven't been sidelined before. We'll get through it."

She smiled and ruffled his hair, "You say that now but what happens when I'm ordering you around and driving you crazy?"

"And that would be different how?" he smirked.

"Hey!" she laughed.

"What? I'm just saying, I'm not worried about it. I'm used to it!" He kissed her forehead and turned when he heard the door open. A new nurse from the morning shift was coming in to do the hourly checkup.

"Hey, we're having a baby!" he said with a goofy grin.

* * *

Granger arrived at his office earlier than usual. The perpetual frown he wore was more severe than usual. He was aware that Hetty now knew he had someone watching them. Thankfully, they didn't know who it was but he realized it was just a matter of time before they figured it out. Maybe it was time to put his backup plan in motion.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N So sorry for the long delay. I've been working on another project and also got a bit sidetracked. I just had to write the story about Deeks in his uniform (There's Just Something). I'm about to go on vacation so it will be a while before the next update. Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! Keep them coming!**_

* * *

Emily arrived a little late the next morning. She had stopped by the hospital to visit Kensi and Deeks on her way in. She wanted to make sure things were okay between them. She had talked to Deeks on the phone but she felt she needed to see them in person. Trust is a fragile thing and not something you want to lose because of a misunderstanding. Kensi had been excited about getting to go home at some point in the afternoon and their conversation had gone well.

She entered the bullpen to find Sam and Callen in the middle of a friendly argument. She was sure this was probably a common occurrence but since they hadn't spoken much to each other during the last few days it was very good to hear.

"I don't know G. That worries me. What if he takes you seriously? Oh, good morning Emily," he said as he looked up.

"Morning Sam," she replied as she dropped her bag on her desk. She smiled at Callen and said, "Morning Callen. What is Sam worried about?"

He lowered his voice and replied, "My plan to smoke out the snitch."

"Which is what?"

"I've got the list Nell gave me of possible suspects. I think we need to spread some office gossip and see what makes its way back to Granger."

"Office gossip?"

"G. wants to start a rumor that the CIA wants him back," Sam whispered looking around.

"How will that tell us which one is the snitch?" she asked confused.

"We'll spin it a bit differently to each one and see which story surfaces."

"Do you know any of them?" she asked curious.

"We know everyone here but these three haven't been around very long. We hardly ever see any of them," Sam confided.

"I don't remember seeing any of them yesterday. I'm not sure how they could have overheard us talking," Callen observed.

"Do you have pictures of them?" she whispered.

He nodded and she moved to his desk to look at them. She didn't recognize any of the three. She did however notice the way her heart sped up at the close proximity to Callen. It was unwelcome and she needed to stop the schoolgirl silliness. This was just a job and Callen was a living legend. She was sure he wasn't interested in her in any capacity other than as a member of his team. And she was a temporary one at that. She pushed her feelings aside then took note of the three faces in the file. She quickly moved back to her desk and decided to concentrate on the mission at hand. She looked around and vowed to keep her eyes open for 'lurkers.'

Callen couldn't help but think about their dinner last night as she stood next to him at his desk. Her perfume was intoxicating and he was having trouble concentrating. He was definitely in trouble.

* * *

Kensi was so thankful to finally be home. The doctor had signed her release forms just after lunch and she was now propped up in her own bed. Her laptop was within reach along with several magazines, puzzle books, baby books, furniture catalogs and three popular novels. She knew this would get old fairly soon but for now, it was heaven compared to being in the hospital.

"Hey, Princess. Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" Deeks asked as he stood in the doorway.

She laughed and patted the bed, "Come here."

He moved to sit on the edge and she reached for his hand. "I don't need a thing. You've thought of everything and you're spoiling me."

He smiled and leaned over to give her a quick kiss. "I'm just trying to take care of my girl. And my baby," he said as he gently rubbed her tummy. His smile faded as he became lost in thought about what could have happened.

"Marty, stop," Kensi whispered. "I'm okay, the baby is okay. Don't go there."

He slowly grinned and said, "You're right, I'm sorry." He leaned over and pulled her into a gentle hug. "God, I love you," he said softly as he nuzzled her hair.

"I love you more," she whispered.

"Not possible," he replied as he leaned up with his usual smile back in place. So what are you going to do first? Shop, read or take a nap?"

"All of the above," she said laughing. "Now, go. I don't need a babysitter."

"I don't consider it babysitting. I mean yes, there is a baby involved but since he or she is still in there," he said pointing to her stomach, "That just leaves you, and you are definitely _not_ a baby."

"Exactly, so go do whatever you need to do. I'll be fine."

He pouted and said, "But what if I want to stay here with you?"

"Really? 'Cause I think there is a lot of packing to do if we're going to get this place ready to move in a couple of weeks."

He sighed and kissed her on the forehead. "Slave driver," he teased. "Fine. How about I go get a box from the guest room, bring it in here and I'll help you decide what gets tossed, donated or kept?"

"Sounds good but for the record, I'm perfectly capable of making those decisions without your help."

"That's what I'm afraid of Fern. I don't want to move every single thing from here to the new house. I downsized so now it's your turn," he said flashing his best smile.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, I will, I promise."

"We'll see," he said skeptically. I'll be right back with the first box."

He walked out and she couldn't help but smile. She was going to have so much fun baiting him.

Deeks came back a few minutes later with several boxes and began to set them around the foot of the bed.

"I thought you were just bringing in one box."

"We are going to do this the right way," he said as he held up an empty box. "This one is for things to give away." He placed it on one end of the bed and reached for another one. He set it on the dresser and said, "This one is for things you absolutely can't live without and this," he said as he put a clear tub on the floor on the other side of the bed, "Is for your keepsakes. I also have this," he held up a trash bag, "For all the stuff that probably should have been put in the trash in the first place. Call it 'hoarder therapy'," he said smirking.

"I'm not a hoarder," she replied testily.

"Then prove it. Let's get rid of some of the stuff in this box." He reached in and pulled out a cereal bowl. "Let me guess, this is one of your missing dishes?"

"Umm, yes," she answered sheepishly.

He laughed and said, "Hoarder therapy just turned into treasure hunting." He placed the bowl in the box of things to give away since the rest of her dishes were destined for the same fate. The next items were a pair of shorts followed by a bra. He held up the lacy bra and tilted his head as he smirked but didn't say a word.

"Hey, I wondered what happened to those."

"Do I want to know why these were stuffed in a box?"

"I probably just dumped everything in that box one day when I had to clean up fast. I really have no idea."

He put them in the keep box and said, "For after the baby is born." He again reached inside and this time he pulled out a small stack of junk mail. "Geez, Kens," he exclaimed as he looked at the dates. "This is stuff from seven, no eight years ago. Can I just toss it?" He looked up when she didn't answer.

Kensi just stared at the mail. Her heart was pounding as the long forgotten memories assaulted her.

"Kens, what's wrong?" He dropped the mail and hurried to her. "Is something wrong with the baby? Kensi talk to me," he said sounding panicked.

"No, no, we're fine," she said trying to calm his fears. "It's just… I remembered why all of that stuff is in the box." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headboard.

He sat down on the bed next to her and reached for her hand. "I'm guessing it's not good. Want to tell me about it?" he asked softly.

"It was the day after Christmas eight years ago. I thought that maybe… maybe Jack had left because I wasn't very good at housekeeping. I thought if I cleaned up the place… that when he came back he would want to stay. I know… it was really stupid…"

"No, no it wasn't. You just didn't realize at the time that it had nothing to do with you or what you did or didn't do. It was his illness," he said as he gently brushed her hair away from her face.

"I know. It just brings back memories that I would rather forget."

He scooted closer and reached up to turn her head toward his. He kissed her softly and said, "It was a long time ago. You weren't 'Bad Ass Blye' back then and you weren't my beautiful, deadly, drop dead gorgeous, sexy, sugar addicted partner who is now my beautiful, deadly, drop dead gorgeous, sexy, sugar addicted, very pregnant wife. And just so you know, I don't care how sick the man was. He was an idiot for leaving you."

She smiled and leaned in for another kiss. "For the record," she added, "I'm glad things worked out they way they did or I would have never met you."

"Me too," he said as he kissed her forehead. He sat up and asked, "You want to put this box away and work on a different one?"

"No, I'm good. Let's get it finished."

He kissed her forehead again then returned to the box. They finished it fairly quickly with things going to all four of the possibilities. He didn't argue with any of her decisions. He decided to save his battles for another time.

They had worked for another hour and had emptied three rather large boxes. He noticed her yawning and decided it was time for her to take a nap.

She started to argue but changed her mind. She was getting rather tired.

He moved the boxes to the floor then tucked the comforter around her. "Baby Deeks is not used to all that brain activity," he teased as he patted her head then turned out the light. "I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner.

She just smiled and closed her eyes. She was surprised by how tired she was and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Callen, Sam and Emily had waited all day hoping to see any one of the three suspects so they could put their plan in motion. Unfortunately they'd had no luck. All three were in the building but none of them had been anywhere near the bullpen.

Callen was quiet and staring at nothing. Emily kept glancing at him but was afraid to interrupt his thoughts. Sam, on the other hand, had no problem with it. "G. What's up?"

His voice was low when he answered, "What if we're approaching this from the wrong angle?"

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"Well, we're assuming whoever it was, heard us talking when we got word about Kensi. What if they didn't hear us?"

"How else would they have known?" Sam asked confused.

Callen turned and looked up at Ops. "I think I need to go talk to Eric." He jogged up the stairs leaving Emily and Sam more confused than before.

Nell looked up as soon as the door opened to see Callen with a frown on his face.

"Hey Nell, I need to talk to you and Eric," he said quietly. "Alone."

She turned to Eric and they both got up to follow Callen down the hall to a small office that was currently empty.

As soon as the door was closed Callen asked, "When Hetty told you about Kensi yesterday, did you send any type of notice online or type anything into your computer?"

Eric looked confused and said, "No, why?"

Callen sighed and replied, "I'm just trying to figure out how our snitch found out and we're not really getting anywhere. We can't set a trap by suddenly walking into their office and telling them gossip. I'm not sure how we can do this discreetly."

"Wait," Nell piped up. "Before you left to go to the hospital, I sent a note through our secure system to Hetty asking if it was okay if I went with you."

"What did it say exactly?"

"Crap! It said, _'May I please go with you to the hospital to check on Kensi and the baby?_'" she said angrily.

"Eric, is it possible for someone to hack into that system?" Callen asked.

"Not from the outside but I'm not sure about someone on the inside. We never thought we would have to worry about that."

"Check it out and see if it happened. If so, can you find out who it was without tipping them off?"

"I think so. Want me to secure it?"

"No, we can use it to our advantage as long as we know who is monitoring it."

"On it," he said determined as he walked out the door.

Callen started to leave when Nell stopped him. "I'm really sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's not your fault. We had no idea one of our own people would be spying on us."

"I know but I feel so stupid."

"Please don't. We will fix this Nell. Stop worrying."

She went back to Ops to find Eric tapping furiously on his keyboard. He was frowning and pounding the keys harder than usual.

"You okay?" Nell asked.

He didn't bother to stop and his answer seemed somewhat angry. "No."

She sighed and put her hand on his arm. "You're upset that someone might have hacked us and you didn't catch it."

He stopped and turned toward her. "This is my job. I'm supposed to stop stuff like this from happening, not allow some traitor to sneak past the alarms and firewalls I have in place."

"I should have gone downstairs and talked to Hetty in person and not sent that message," she said sadly.

They both sat staring at their hands, lost in their thoughts.

"I think you both need to stop blaming yourselves and get busy figuring out who and why," Hetty said as they both jumped.

"Umm, sorry Hetty," Nell said as she moved to her computer.

She turned and walked out as Eric placed his hand over his heart. "I hate it when she does that."

"I heard that Mr. Beale."


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N So sorry for the delay. We went on a fantastic vacation and then have spent the last two weeks trying to catch up at work! Hopefully the updates will get back to being a bit more regular. The show writers seem to be giving Granger a bit more of a heart lately. Just so you know... I'm not! Again I own nothing but the reviews which I totally love to get!**_

* * *

After just over an hour of typing, manipulating and sneaking around in the 'secure' system, Eric finally had an idea of how the snitch had managed to hack into it. Now he just had to work his way backward and put a name to the offender. He stretched slowly then began with a renewed sense of urgency to find out the identity of the snitch.

* * *

Kensi awoke to the smell of something wonderful wafting through the house. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. After a few minutes of shaking off sleep she realized that nature was calling and needed to get up.

Just as she was getting out of bed, the door to the bedroom opened and Deeks said, "Hey, whoa there. Where do you think you're headed?"

"I have to pee. I think I can manage that without your help," she said with a frown.

"Of course you can. I just… okay."

"What?"

"Nothing. Umm… dinner is ready when you are."

"Okay, I'll be right out." She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Deeks stood for a moment and took a deep breath. This was going to be extremely hard for him. He wanted to protect her and the baby but he had to be careful. She would push him away if she felt like he was smothering her and he definitely did not want her to do that. He went back into the kitchen and finished setting the table. _'Handle with care but do not smother,'_ he said to himself as he placed the chicken dish on the dining room table. _'Easier said than done,' _he thought.

* * *

Eric stood at the top of the stairs and tried to quietly get Callen's attention.

"Pssst!"

Callen was working on a report and was totally oblivious.

"Pssst!"

Emily looked up and saw the urgent look on Eric's face and got his attention. "Hey, I think Eric needs you upstairs," she whispered.

Callen looked at Emily then noticed she was pointing up. He finally realized what was happening and jogged upstairs to Eric who led him back to the empty office.

As soon as Callen shut the door he exclaimed, "Got 'em!"

"I never doubted you. Who is it?"

"Her name is Patricia Langford and she has been here for just about six months. She is our cyber threat specialist which explains why we rarely see her and how she was able to spy on us without getting caught. She is a fully trained field agent but is chained to her computer and her office most of the time."

"And dear old Granger probably promised her an actual field job if she cooperated with him," Callen speculated.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Callen grinned and said, "I want you to send a message to me on our internal system."

* * *

"This is fantastic! Did Taddeo teach you how to make this too?" Kensi asked as she closed her eyes and savored the baked chicken.

"Nope. I learned how to make this all by myself," he said proudly.

She looked over at him and said, "You mean you actually used a cookbook?"

He blushed slightly and admitted, "No, I just experimented with different spices and came up with it. Can you seriously see me reading a cookbook?"

"No but I also never would have pegged you for a chef either. This is really good."

"Thanks."

They sat in comfortable silence for a minute or two. Deeks was afraid to bring this up but it needed to be discussed.

"Hey, I was wondering…" he paused as he gathered his courage.

"About what?"

He swallowed hard and took a big breath. "Do you think your Mom could come over and stay with you during the day after I have to go back to work on Monday?" he said quickly. "I mean it's just temporary and I know you are fully capable of taking care of yourself but…"

"But what?" she asked as she leaned back and folded her arms across her chest.

This was not going well. He sighed and put down his fork. "Look Kens, I know you said you don't need a babysitter but maybe you can look at it from my point of view. I will feel much better and be less worried about you if I knew someone was here in case you needed something. I can stop by during lunch if we're not on a case and I'll come home as soon as I can after work."

She sighed and placed her elbows on the table then rested her chin on her hands. If it was him at home recovering from an injury she would want someone to look after him when she couldn't be there. She totally understood but her stubborn streak couldn't help but cause her to protest at least a little bit. "How about if I get her to come over after lunch on the days you can stop by and maybe a bit earlier on the days you can't?"

He had fully expected it to be a long, unpleasant argument and was totally caught off guard. "Really? I mean… deal!" he said as he held out his hand to hers.

She took it and shook it firmly but couldn't help the smile that erupted when he pulled it toward himself and started kissing all over her hand and making 'smooching' sounds.

"Marty, you are such a child," she said giggling.

"I know but you love it," he replied grinning.

"For some unknown reason, yes I do."

"Wait right here. I have a surprise for you," he said as he went back into the kitchen. He came back out with the most colorful dessert she had ever seen.

"What is that?" she said as she admired the round treat.

"It's called a fruit pizza. It's all kinds of fruit on top of a light crust made out of cookie dough. It's kind of healthy because of the fruit but should satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time."

"It's too pretty to eat."

"Okay then, I'll just put it back…"

"Don't you dare," she said as she reached for it.

He used a pizza wheel to cut it into slices and she moaned as she took the first bite. "This is… perfect," she said between bites with her mouth full.

He sat and watched her eat and couldn't help but smile. She was just so adorable. Despite everything they had been through in the last few months he couldn't help but feel as if he was the luckiest man on earth.

* * *

Eric sent the message Callen had composed through the internal system and they were about to set up a simple entrapment scheme.

Callen opened the note and read it but waited about half an hour before he responded. Emily and Sam stood behind him as he composed a response to the original note. She couldn't help but chuckle as she read it.

_Thanks Eric for checking to see if Agent Jackson is still with the CIA. I really need you to keep this just between us. I'm not sure why the CIA wants me back and I doubt I will take the job but I don't want Hetty to get wind of this and get upset. Thanks Bro._

_Callen_

He looked up at Emily to see what she thought and she whispered, "Sounds good. What do you think Sam?"

"Send it," he replied.

He grinned and hit the send button then they made a beeline for Hetty's office.

"Hey Hetty," Callen said smirking as they all stood in front of her desk.

"Any news?" she asked.

"Let's just say that I think your phone will be ringing within the hour." He told her what Eric had found out and about the trap they had set.

"And what would you like me to say when he calls to tell me you are jumping ship?" Hetty asked grinning.

"I can think of a few choice things, but the best response would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 'hogwash'."

Hetty nodded and smiled as she sat down. Her smile faded when she thought about Patricia. "And what do you suggest we do with our snitch?"

"I think we should keep the 'lines of communication' open between us and Granger for as long as possible. Once it is shut down, he'll just find another way to get what he wants. At least this way, we can control what he gets."

"Agreed. In the meantime, it's business as usual."

"In other words, back to the reports," Emily said with a sigh.

"Chop, chop," Hetty replied grinning.

* * *

Granger picked up the phone and pushed a button on the base. After a few seconds the party on the other end answered.

"I had a message to call you. Do you have information for me?"

"Yes, Assistant Director. I intercepted a message just a bit ago that I thought you would want to hear," Patricia told him.

"And?" he spat impatiently.

"Well, sir… Agent Callen is being recruited back to the CIA."

"What? Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm certain," she assured him then told him what the message had said.

"I can't believe he would go back to them and leave Hetty high and dry," he said as his thoughts were working on what to do about it.

"Sir, how much longer do you want me to monitor them? I feel really bad about spying on my co-workers," she said sadly.

"You'll monitor them until I say so. And you are not spying. You are following orders and if you want to get out from behind that desk anytime soon, you'll continue to do so!" he barked at her.

"Yes sir," she said timidly.

Granger hung up without so much as a 'thank you' or a 'goodbye'. Patricia slowly put the phone back on the receiver and laid her head down on her desk. She couldn't help the tears that slowly dripped onto the table as she thought about what would happen to her career if anyone found out what she was doing.

* * *

Kensi was asleep using his chest as a pillow as they sat on the couch. She hadn't lasted twenty minutes into her favorite show before she was softly snoring. He had his arm propped up on her back and was gently brushing his hand through her hair. He wasn't paying any attention to the show. He was lost in his thoughts about the baby and being a father.

At first it had scared him silly but their close call today had made him realize just how much he wanted to be a father. He certainly knew what not to do and he guessed he would figure out the rest when the time came. He just hoped he wouldn't spoil him or her so badly that they turned out to be a rotten person. Most of the lawyers he had worked with had been rotten people and a large portion of them had come from wealthy families who had indulged their every wish.

He wanted his children to have what they needed and just a little of what they wanted. He wanted them to understand the need for hard work and the joy of spending time with the people that you love. As he thought more and more about what he wanted to teach and instill in his children an idea began to form. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips the more it took shape in his mind. He would get it started and then get Kensi to help him with it. Hopefully by the time their son or daughter graduated from high school, the project would be complete.

He wrapped his arm around Kensi's waist and gently pulled her closer to him. He sighed contentedly as he held the love of his life in his arms along with the baby growing inside her.

* * *

Granger sat for a few minutes contemplating this last bit of information. If Hetty knew Callen was thinking about leaving she would be devastated. He knew how much she cared about the agent and the long history she had with him and his mother. After a few moments, an evil grin began to spread over his face. If Callen wanted to keep Hetty in the dark until he could make a decision, then so be it. But that didn't mean he had to keep it a secret. He grinned wider when he thought about what the information would do to Hetty and he couldn't wait to be the bearer of bad news.


	15. Chapter 15

**_A/N My most sincere apologies for the long wait. Sometimes real life drama takes your muse away and the last month has been really hard. Things are looking up and I hope to be back to updating regularly._**

**_I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and holiday season. Reviews make great Christmas gifts! See you next year!_**

* * *

She sat at her desk waiting patiently for the phone call she knew would come. She spent the time working on a plan of her own. One that would guarantee Granger wouldn't be hanging around to harass them on a regular basis. A sly grin slowly spread across her face as the plan came together. She would need some help from her team but she knew they would be more than willing. Granger was a monumental pain in the ass and the sooner he was out of their day to day operations the better.

Fifty four minutes after Callen had informed Hetty of their ruse the phone on her desk began to chirp. She steeled herself for the conversation and waited until the third ring to answer.

"Lange," she announced.

"Hetty. Owen. We need to talk."

"What now? Is there a new case or are you unhappy with the color of the carpet in ops?"

"Sarcasm noted. I have some interesting information I thought you might like to know."

"Information or gossip? You know how I feel about agency politics."

"Not gossip, Hetty. This is real and my source is solid."

"Then by all means, enlighten me."

"Your 'Golden Boy' is about to ditch NCIS."

Hetty couldn't help but notice the gleeful edge to his tone. "Golden Boy? And who might that be? All of my agents are 'Golden' as you put it."

"Callen. The CIA has asked him back," he said with a knowing smirk.

"Rubbish," she exclaimed loudly. "I would be the first to know if he was contemplating such a change in his career."

"I don't know what to tell you Hetty. My information is ironclad."

"I think you should verify your information before you go spouting off about things you know nothing about. As a matter of fact," she said smiling, "Why don't you call Arthur at CIA headquarters and ask him about Callen? I'm sure you will find you are mistaken."

"Fine, I'll do that and call you back as soon as I have confirmation. You might as well get used to the idea Hetty. He's as good as gone."

"I'll be waiting for that phone call Owen. Goodbye." She hung up before he could respond then took a sip of her tea and grinned. He was going to make such a fool of himself with the CIA and she couldn't wait to call her dear friend Arthur tomorrow and ask him all about the conversation.

Hetty picked up the phone to ops and told Eric about the call from Granger. He immediately hung up and went to work erasing all traces of both messages sent through the system. There was no way he was ever going to let someone hack his domain again. He also set up several traps that would set off alarms if any unusual activity was detected. These protocols were already in place for external threats. Now he was prepared for internal assaults as well. He also placed several bug detecting devices in key spots around the building. No one was going to electronically eavesdrop on them if he could prevent it. With his new equipment now placed and cyber traps set, he felt the tension in his shoulders begin to ease. He hadn't said more than three words to Nell in a couple of days and he really needed to fix that. He sighed deeply and turned to watch her working on research for a possible new case.

"Hey," he called lamely.

"Yes, give me a minute," she replied a bit stiffly.

He waited patiently for her to finish. She turned to face him but there was no smile. He had a lot of 'fixing' to do he realized. "I'm really sorry I've been acting like a jerk. I was just so angry at myself for allowing that to happen and I guess I sort of shut everyone else out."

She didn't react. She just stared at him as if she was waiting for him to say something else.

"Look, let me make it up to you. Come with me to dinner. I know this great pub on the beach. You'll love it. Please?"

"I'm not much in the mood for loud bars tonight."

"Ok, then we'll go to my place and order pizza. Come on, I know you're hungry," he pleaded.

She looked at him and thought through his offer. After a few seconds she gave him a weak smile and said, "Ok, but no booze. We have to be here early tomorrow and I don't want to work through a hangover."

"Deal! Let's go, I'm starving!"

* * *

Emily flopped down on the couch in her apartment and stared at the ceiling. She was certain she had lost her mind. She thought back over the day and realized she had done nothing but think about Callen. His blue eyes haunted her and every thought eventually rolled back around to him.

She had to get it together and quickly. The last thing she needed right now was to somehow alert one of her teammates to her silly schoolgirl crush. She stood up and began pacing around her apartment, trying to think of all the reasons why she should forget about Callen as a romantic interest and to zone in on the fact that he was her team leader and a colleague, nothing more.

After about fifteen minutes of veering off course in her quest to rid herself of romantic thoughts of herself and Callen, she realized it was going to be much harder than she anticipated. She sighed heavily and flopped back down on the couch. Now she had a pounding headache to add to her misery.

* * *

Deeks and Kensi awoke the next morning with a renewed determination to get her house packed up except for the bare necessities. She got comfortable in her spot on the bed and they continued sorting through the stuff in her spare bedroom. They found themselves about two thirds finished by lunchtime.

"Why don't you go take a short nap and I'll go out and pick us up some lunch?" He suggested when he noticed the tired look on her face.

"Sounds good. How about chicken salad? For some reason that sounds yummy."

"And here we go," he said grinning.

"Here we go where?"

"The cravings. Chicken salad is pretty tame but I'm really worried about what you're going to send me after in a few months."

"Trust me, I'm not going to want weird stuff."

"Yeah, well I'm not so sure about that. You eat weird stuff now!"

"I do not," she said pouting.

He climbed in beside her and gave her a gentle hug. "Yeah, you do but you're my weirdo," he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She stuck her tongue out at him and playfully pushed him away.

"I'll be back but it might take me awhile to find your 'chicken salad'. I'm guessing you don't want me to get it at a gas station," he joked.

"Eww, of course not!"

"Okay, then. I'll be back eventually," he smiled as he squeezed her hand. "Don't wait up."

She grinned as he left then settled down into the bed and got comfortable. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Deeks raced to his car and headed over to his apartment. He had come up with an idea during the night. He kept waking up to check on Kensi and had trouble falling back asleep. During one of those sleepless hours it dawned on him that Christmas was less than a week away and they needed to celebrate it despite their current situation.

He arrived at his apartment and started reading the labels on all the boxes until he found the ones he was looking for. His next stop was a specialty gift store about twenty minutes from his house. He found exactly what he needed rather quickly then raced to the sandwich shop near the mission to get her chicken salad.

When he finally returned to the house he found her sitting on the couch with a scowl on her face. "What's up Princess?"

"What took you so long? You've been gone over an hour and I'm starving!"

He chuckled as he made his way to the kitchen. "I told you it was going to take a while. Patience is a virtue, you know." He looked over at her as she continued to look annoyed. "I had to run a couple of errands while I was out but I promise you will like it."

"Like what?" she asked suspiciously.

"The surprise I have planned."

"What surprise?"

"If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?"

She folded her arms across her chest and mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" he asked as he got plates from the cabinet, knowing he was pushing his luck but couldn't help himself.

"Nothing," she said irritated.

He poured them some tea and brought the sandwiches over to the couch. He sat next to her and continued to grin which only irritated her more.

She didn't respond and ate in silence until she couldn't stand it any longer. "Okay, what's the surprise? You can tell me now."

"Oh, really? You're giving me permission to spoil your surprise? Well, that's not really an option sweetheart. Sorry."

He couldn't help but laugh at the petulant little child look she gave him. "Tell you what. After we finish lunch, why don't you go back into our room, get comfy and do some online shopping while I get the surprise ready?"

"How long will I have to wait?"

"About an hour, maybe a little longer. But you have to promise not to peek!"

"Okay, fine!" she agreed testily.

"Let me see both of your hands. I don't want any crossed fingers," he said as he reached for her and wrapped her in a hug.

As soon as she closed the door to the bedroom he cleaned up their lunch dishes then headed out to his car. He brought in the boxes and began opening them as quietly as possible.

Just over an hour later, he stood back and admired his handiwork. In the corner of her living room, he had set up a small four foot tall artificial Christmas tree, complete with colored lights and ornaments. There was a lighted star at the top and he couldn't help but think that it was a perfect fit for the tiny space. He took out the package from the gift shop and placed it on the coffee table. After taking one last look around to make sure it was perfect, he tapped on the door of the bedroom then walked in, closing the door behind him.

"How's the shopping going?" he asked with a huge smile on his face.

"Good, I guess. How about the surprise?"

He reached for her hand and helped her out of bed. "Come with me," he said softly. "And close your eyes."

She closed her eyes and followed him out as he led her to the living room. As much as she liked to give him a hard time about things, she had to admit, she really did like surprises. Especially his surprises.

He moved her close to the tree then stood to the side. "Open your eyes," he whispered. He wasn't exactly sure what he had expected from Kensi but what he got certainly wasn't on his scope of possibilities.

Kensi opened her eyes and was immediately assaulted with memories of childhood Christmases with her Mom and Dad and the tears began to fall. She tried to stop them but it was of no use.

"Kensi? What's wrong? I thought you would like it," he said as he moved to her and pulled her into his arms.

"I do like it," she blubbered. "No, I love it. It's beautiful."

"Then why are you crying?" he asked as he rubbed her back.

She sniffed and leaned back to look into his eyes. "I haven't had a Christmas tree since… since Dad died. I didn't even have one with Jack. I forgot how much I missed it and about all the good memories I have as a little girl. Thank you Marty. It really is beautiful."

"We'll keep the good memories and forget the bad ones. We'll start our own Christmas memories and traditions as a family starting now." He reached over and picked up the package and handed it to her.

She smiled and took the box then carefully began to open it. Fresh tears began to fall as she smiled brightly. It was a beautiful silver ornament with the words 'Our First Christmas Together' etched into it.

He picked up the hook and led her to the tree where they placed the ornament in the very front, together.

"Merry Christmas Kensi," he said as he hugged her close.

"Yes it is," she replied, then leaned up to kiss him as they stood in front of their very first Christmas tree as a family.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N I can't apologize enough for the long delay. My life has been filled with unwanted drama since about Christmas time and has made the desire to write non-existent. To those who are still with me, thanks so much and I hope to do better at updating more frequently.**

Just a reminder that I don't own anything but the ideas and extra characters.

* * *

After dinner they called it a day and curled up together in bed. He held her close and they spoke softly as if their voices would disturb the baby.

"So, what's next?" he whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's next for us in this wild, crazy life of ours?"

She chuckled softly and patted his chest. "I'd settle for some normal, ordinary stuff."

"What is normal, ordinary stuff? I don't think I know what that looks like, do you?"

She smiled and sighed. "I think we'll just have to figure that out together. In the mean time, let's finish packing up this place so we can concentrate getting our new house ready."

"Sounds like a plan," he said as he yawned sleepily and closed his eyes.

She knew he must be exhausted and she gently brushed her hand across his cheek. "G'night Marty, she said as she pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Night Fern," he mumbled. "Night Baby Deeks," he slurred. It wasn't long before his breathing evened out but she continued to watch him sleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

"Arthur? Owen Granger, how have you been?" He detested the man but was on his best behavior, knowing he needed information that was available only through this particular contact.

"I'm still here so I guess that means I'm doing okay. What can I do for you? I'm sure this isn't a social call."

"No, it isn't and I hate asking this but due to a sensitive case we're working, I'm forced to ask for a favor."

"And what might that be?"

"Well, there is a rumor running rampant around here that you're trying to recruit one of my agents and I need to verify it before I can proceed. If he's truly headed your way, then I need to take him off this case immediately," he lied.

"Granger, I honestly have no idea who you are talking about but give me his name and I'll check it out."

"It's G. Callen."

Arthur laughed heartily and said, "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not."

"Granger, I can guarantee we are not trying to recruit Mr. Callen. I would have known about it and put the kibosh on it immediately."

"Why is that?" he asked wondering if there was something about Callen he didn't know.

"Henrietta Lange," he said as if he couldn't believe Granger was so dense. Don't get me wrong, he's a good agent but he's one of hers and I have no desire to get on that woman's bad side. You need to stop listening to the rumor mill, Owen. It will get you into trouble every time," he said snickering.

Granger was furious and his embarrassment was just part of it. "Well, it's good to know he's still one of ours. I'm really sorry to have bothered you with this and thanks for the information. Have a good day Arthur," he said hurriedly.

"Good luck with Henrietta, Granger," he said with an obvious smile on his lips.

He quickly hung up before the CIA Director could lob another piece of advice at him. He wasn't very happy about having to call his old CIA nemesis in the first place but felt it had to be done to make is point with Hetty. Now it seemed to have backfired and he felt as if he had been slapped. Something was going on and he was going to find out who was behind it. He punched in the number on his phone and waited for his assistant to answer.

* * *

Hetty arrived at Ops at her usual time which was long before anyone else showed up. She read through her correspondence as she sipped a cup of tea. After about an hour of being alone in the building, she looked up and smiled at the person walking toward her. Good morning Ms. Langford, have a seat please.

"Good morning Ms. Lange," Patricia said as she nervously sat down. Hetty had called her late last night and had asked her to arrive extra early this morning for a short visit.

"Oh, please call me Hetty," she said smiling.

Patricia smiled but was obviously very uncomfortable. She had been in this chair only once before and that was on her first day. Hetty had been cordial to her and had stopped by her office a couple of times to see how she was adjusting but there hadn't been much more interaction between herself and the intimidating manager of the division.

"If you were asked to tell me in five words or less about your six months with us here in the Office of Special Projects, how would you respond?" Hetty asked the computer technician.

She hesitated and tried to think quickly. Several thoughts passed through her mind but ultimately she decided to be honest. "Busy, stressful and… isolated," she replied softly.

"I see," she said nodding. "Have we made you angry in some way?"

"No, not at all… not you…," she trailed off as she looked at her hands in her lap.

"Then who has made you angry?"

"I can't really answer that," she said sitting up in her seat but avoiding eye contact with Hetty.

"Ms. Langford, the well-being of my agents is important to me. You are obviously not happy here and I need to know why."

"I am happy here, or rather… I was happy. Then something happened and now everything is awful. I'm trapped in a situation that could either help my career or ruin it and I don't know what to do anymore." Tears were slowly sliding down her cheeks as she tried to skirt around the subject of Granger.

"Who is your boss?" Hetty asked casually.

She looked surprised by the question but answered truthfully. "I guess that would be Director Vance."

"Ultimately yes, but who do you report to?"

"You, I suppose."

"Do you?"

Patricia hung her head as tears began to flow more freely.

"Ms. Langford, I am your boss. Assistant Director Granger is my boss. I deal with him. Anything he wants from this division has to go through me. I thought that was made clear to you when you were hired."

"It was, but he came to me and asked me to help him. He said it was a directive from higher up and that you weren't to be involved."

"And you believed him? Did his request for help involve me in any way?"

"Indirectly, I suppose. He wanted to know what your team members were doing."

"The after action reports are available to him at any time, why did he need your help?"

She sighed and looked up toward the ceiling. This was it. Her career was over. No one would want to work with her ever again. Internal snitches are a pariah when it comes to government agencies. She tried to calm her wandering thoughts and respond to the question asked.

"He needed my computer skills to spy on your team," she said quickly as she looked back down at her hands.

"And did you do that?"

"Yes."

"Did it ever occur to you that you were also a part of my team?" When she didn't answer Hetty sighed and asked another question. "What did he promise you?"

She finally looked up at Hetty and replied, "To make me a field agent and get me out of that stuffy little office."

"So, you thought he would be so grateful for whatever you gave him that he would transfer you to wherever you wanted to go? What if your information had made him angry? Do you think he would have been grateful to you for that?"

"No."

"Then it looks like you didn't think this through properly. I'm sure he has been very polite and thankful for all you've done. Am I correct?"

"No."

"Let me guess. He's been edgy, demanding, rude and thankless to this point."

"Yes."

"Well, I can guarantee you it is about to get worse."

"Why?" she asked with a slight tremble in her voice.

"Let's just say that some of the information you passed his way wasn't entirely true and I expect him to come barging in here shortly with steam coming out of his ears."

Patricia's heart began beating rapidly and the look of fear on her face was hard to mask.

"So, here's what is going to happen," Hetty said calmly as she noted the condition of her agent. "You are going to take two weeks of vacation effectively immediately. I don't care where you go, but make sure you do not stay in Los Angeles. It is important that Granger not be able to find you. At the end of the two weeks, call me directly and I will give you further instructions. It would be best if you cleared out your desk."

Realization dawned on Patricia as she sank lower into the chair and placed her face in her hands.

"I'm not firing you Ms. Langford, but I can't see you coming back to work here, not after you have betrayed your team. I will see about getting you transferred somewhere else. I hope this experience has taught you about the chain of command and that you never spy on your co-workers, no matter who is doing the asking. Are we clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," she whispered, thankful that she still had a job. At least for now.

"It would also be a good idea to get rid of your cell phone. Leave that one in your office and go buy a new one. We don't want Granger tracking you down now do we?"

"No. Thank you Hetty. I'm very sorry about all of this. I knew I should have talked to you after he contacted me the first time but…"

"But you didn't and now we have to fix it. I'm giving you a second chance because you are a good agent. I don't think field work is right for you but that is not my decision to make. I wish you well. Call me in two weeks and I'll let you know where you stand. Right now, you need to hurry. Get your things, go home and pack and get on the road. Stay clear of this city or anywhere there is an NCIS office."

"Thank you and again, I'm so sorry." Patricia hurried from Hetty's office back to her cubicle to pack up her personal belongings. Granger could show up at any minute and she needed to be long gone.

* * *

Despite the agreement of no alcohol for dinner, Eric and Nell both dragged themselves into Ops after an evening of pizza and too many beers. Nell ended up sleeping on his couch but managed to get up early enough to go home and change before coming to work. They both arrived early but made a beeline for the coffee machine.

"Morning," Eric mumbled as he waited for Nell to pour herself a cup.

"Mmm, my eyelids feel like they are glued shut and my head is killing me. It doesn't look so good from my viewpoint," she growled as she shuffled toward the stairs.

He didn't argue. He filled his cup and followed her up. He noticed Hetty wasn't at her desk and wondered if Granger had called her back last night.

When they entered Ops, they found Hetty standing and waiting on them.

"Rough evening?" she asked.

"Uh… no, we're… good. Do we have a case?" Nell asked hoping to change the subject.

"No, not really but I do have some information. She informed them about the call from Granger and about her conversation with Patricia. She then proceeded to tell them about the next phase of her plan.

* * *

Granger was on the warpath. He was extremely angry and he needed answers. He had tried to call Patricia first thing this morning but she hadn't answered her cell. The messages he had left for her had been increasingly threatening but she hadn't returned any of them. He would have to confront her in person then fire her on the spot. He couldn't work with incompetent people and at the moment she topped that list as far as he was concerned. It was her fault he had made a fool of himself in front of the CIA director and she was going to pay for that mistake.

He barged into the bullpen and went straight to Hetty's desk where she was waiting patiently for him to arrive.

"I don't know what scam you are trying to run on me but it won't work," he said under his breath as he stomped up to her.

"Good morning to you to Owen. To what do I owe your sour mood today?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about," he hissed.

"I'm afraid I don't have a clue. Please explain."

"Where is Patricia?"

"Patricia who? What are you talking about?"

He sat down heavily in one of the chairs in front of her desk and tried to calm his temper. "Langford, your cyber threat analyst. I can't reach her."

"Why are you trying to reach her Owen?"

"That's none of your business."

"If it involves one of my team then yes, it is my business. And to answer your question, Ms. Langford has asked to take her vacation effective immediately. It seems there was a family emergency."

He shook his head and quietly said, "Right. Convenient don't you think?"

"If I knew what you were talking about then maybe I could help you but at the moment you aren't making any sense, Owen."

"Fine. If you want to play it that way then I can too. Are your two computer geeks upstairs?"

"If you are referring to our technology expert and our research analyst, then yes they are upstairs."

Granger stood up and left her desk without another word as he angrily stomped up the stairs.

"Beale," he shouted as he entered the room.

Eric and Nell both jumped and immediately stopped what they were doing.

"Yes sir," Eric managed to croak.

"Pull up all of the interoffice emails from the last week."

"I can only pull up my emails; I don't have access to anyone else's."

"Fine, then pull up yours. Specifically the ones between you and Mr. Callen."

Eric scooted over to his desktop computer and did as he was told. Once he was finished, he scooted away so Granger could take a look.

"Where is it?" Granger asked gruffly.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"The emails between you and Callen about the CIA!" he shouted.

Eric scooted a bit further away and shrugged his shoulders with a wide-eyed look of fear on his face. "I don't know anything about Callen and CIA emails. Were they from the CIA?" he asked, confused.

Granger looked over at Nell to see if she had any idea what was going on but she looked just as clueless.

He glared at them both and stormed out of Ops to confront Hetty one more time.

As soon as the doors closed and they were sure he was gone, Eric grinned at Nell and gave her a silent 'high five.'


	17. Chapter 17

A/N Wow! The season finale put a damper on my whole summer however, I can replay the 'kiss' over and over to make it all better!

My apologies for the gap between updates. Life. There's my excuse. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do and putting this story on the shelf for awhile was what I needed to do. Thanks to those of you who are still reading this. Just a reminder that I own nothing and that Granger is NOT a good guy in my story! Please read and review!

* * *

Hetty sat at her desk and sipped another cup of tea. She couldn't help but smile. All in all, it had been a good day so far and those were rare in her line of work. After Granger had stormed out of her office he had made a beeline to Emily and yelled at her to follow him outside. When Emily returned alone a few short minutes later she didn't bother to ask what the meeting was about because the grin on Emily's face looked a bit like her own.

She was definitely getting too old for all the political games being played and longed for a time when they could just do their jobs without all the harassment. She sighed when she realized that politics had always been part of her job in some form or another. She had managed to survive them this long and she had no plans to succumb to them now.

Granger was definitely a thorn in her side but hopefully, he would put the nail in his own coffin soon and be out of their way. Unfortunately, his successor could actually be worse if that was possible and she knew from experience that it most certainly was possible.

Emily returned to the bullpen and Callen couldn't help but notice the grin.

"Everything OK?" he asked as she returned to her desk.

"Perfect," she replied but didn't elaborate.

Callen noticed that the smile didn't go away. "You want to tell us what that was all about?"

Before she could give him a reply, Granger stormed back in and started yelling at no one in particular.

"I want to know what is going on in this office and I want an answer right now," he screamed.

Sam glanced at Callen and then turned toward Granger. "At the moment we are finishing our paperwork. I thought that was what we were supposed to be doing."

"Don't get smart with me. You know what I'm talking about."

Callen replied, "Actually, no we don't. Care to explain?"

Granger moved over to the end of Deeks' empty desk and leaned forward with his hands on the edge.

"Whose idea was it to send the email to Patricia?" he demanded.

Emily sat quietly and watched as Sam and Callen played the part of absolutely clueless employees perfectly.

"First of all, to what email are you referring and second, who is Patricia?" Callen asked with a confused frown on his face.

Granger looked at Sam who had a similar look on his features then answered, "I'll find out and when I do, you can kiss NCIS goodbye gentlemen."

He glared at all three of them then again, stomped out of the building.

Hetty watched and tried to hide her amusement. She didn't bother interrupting the pathetic scene and left her agents to take care of the red-faced Granger.

After he left, Hetty began to worry. Granger had made an unnecessary stop in the bullpen which was bothering her. His anger was evident and his pride was most definitely wounded. Why had he bothered to stomp back in and yell at her team… again? She assumed he would have just left and crawled back into his lair to come up with another diabolical plot to bring her team down. The other possibility was that he had already hatched a plan and was in the process of trying to implement it. How, she wasn't sure but hopefully they could figure it out before it was too late.

Before they could comment on Granger's temper tantrum, Eric whistled them upstairs to begin working on a new case.

As they all filed upstairs, Granger was just driving away in his car but not before flipping a switch on a machine sitting on the console next to him. A tiny little device attached to the underside of Deeks' desk suddenly became active. Now he could listen in on their conversations himself and not be dependent on anyone else to screw it up.

* * *

Deeks made pancakes for Kensi but made sure to put extra fruit in them. They spent the day going through more boxes and by the time lunch rolled around it felt as if the stack of boxes was growing instead of shrinking.

"Like I said," Deeks commented grinning. "Hoarder, hoarder, hoarder!"

"I am not a hoarder!" she exclaimed loudly. "I'm a busy person and I just don't have time to put things away."

"Princess, just admit it. Housekeeping isn't your thing but I'm okay with that. You know why?"

"No," she said pouting.

"Because we complement each other. You don't cook but I do. You don't like to clean but I do. It just works."

"How does that work exactly if you do all the cooking and cleaning and I do nothing?"

"Who said you would be doing nothing? As a matter of fact, I see a lot of dirty diapers in your future!"

"What? No, no, no! We will be sharing the load, buddy."

"Okay, but that means we share the load with everything. Including cooking and cleaning so I guess that means you need to work on your little hoarder problem and learn to cook a few more dishes," he said smirking.

Kensi let out a frustrated sigh and pouted some more. Deeks just smiled and grabbed another box.

All in all they were doing well. She had agreed to throw away quite a bit of stuff and was giving away even more but they still had a long way to go.

* * *

Eric had been helping to brief the team about a break-in at a nearby medical lab when one of his screens began to flash red and emit a loud buzzing sound.

"No way! How could this be happening?"

"Is there a problem Mr. Beale?" Hetty asked frowning.

He raced to the computer that was flashing and started punching keys frantically.

"Yes, there is but give me a minute to figure out what exactly," he answered quickly. After a couple of minutes he turned to Hetty and said, "We have another internal security breach."

"Is the system compromised," Callen asked worried.

"No, the system is fine," Eric replied.

"Then how are we compromised?" Sam asked confused.

"I don't know where exactly but somewhere in the building, we have a bug. A listening device."

"What? How could someone get in here to do that without us knowing about it?" asked Callen incredulous.

Hetty sighed heavily and replied, "I know exactly how it was done and exactly where it is."

The team just stared at her waiting for an explanation.

"But, I think we can use it to our advantage," she said as a smile slowly spread across her face.

* * *

Julia stopped by a couple of times over the weekend and brought food and also insisted on helping pack things. During one of her visits, Deeks left to go to the new house to take pictures of everything. He took one of every angle in every room, closet and bathroom so Kensi could get started on decorating ideas. Her mom had offered to help and she had happily accepted.

Deeks was glad they were going to be spending some more time together and ecstatic that he wouldn't have to go through all of that with her. He cared about what it would ultimately look like but he didn't want to get into the possible arguments that might erupt if his opinion didn't agree with Kensi's. Now that Julia was helping, he felt a little better about the eventual outcome since her house was decorated beautifully.

He went into what was to be the baby's room and lay down in the middle of the floor. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the tiny little person being rocked to sleep by Kensi. The images brought a huge smile to his face. Boy or girl, he didn't care. He was just happy to be his or her father.

His eyes snapped open when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Somehow he had fallen asleep in the floor.

"Hey Kens," he answered trying to sound awake.

"Where are you? Is everything okay?" she asked worried.

He looked at his watch and realized he had been gone over an hour.

"Sorry, babe. I just got a little carried away taking pictures and thinking about our baby."

"You're sitting in the nursery aren't you?"

"Busted," he replied laughing.

She laughed and said, "Umm, could you bring home some of those fish tacos that you like? They sound really good for some reason."

He laughed again and replied, "Fish tacos? Really? Okay but don't blame me if you end up hugging the toilet again."

"Ooh, don't say that. I'll see you in a little while."

"Oh, hey, is your Mom still there? Do I need to get some for her too?"

"Yes, she's here."

"Okay, dinner will be there shortly." He said goodbye then hung up and smiled. She had said she hated those tacos. This could end up being really bad. He made the decision to get tacos and also a nice leafy chicken salad in case she changed her mind before he got there.

* * *

Hetty set the ground rules before they left OPS. No talking about case work in the bullpen unless it had been scripted in OPS beforehand. Only small talk would be made downstairs and all case related or Granger related discussions would be held upstairs. With that in mind, each had been given an assignment for the current case and would be leaving the building. She told them to call in their findings when they were finished and then call it a day.

"Unless we find something urgent, I will see you all on Monday," she explained.

The three agents grabbed their gear and left the building without saying a word. Once outside, Sam commented, "It's going to be tough to remember what we can and can't say in there."

"I agree. Maybe we should learn sign language," Callen quipped.

"I know sign language," Emily replied.

"Really? What made you learn it?"

"I had a friend in school that was deaf and she taught it to me. It's a beautiful language," she said lost in thought.

"Why don't you teach me? Us, I mean teach us," he said looking toward Sam.

"Sure, why not?" she agreed.

Callen couldn't help but smile. He knew it was just an excuse to spend time with her but he would take it. He would take what he could get since she could be nothing more than a teammate.

Emily was smiling as well. More time spent with him was better than sitting at home and dreaming about what could never be.

* * *

Kensi took one bite of the taco and made a face. "Are you sure these are the same tacos?" she asked grimacing.

"Yes, they are but I've got something else for you if you rather have it instead."

"Yes, please," she said as she dropped the offending taco on her plate and pushed it away. She hoped he had brought her one of her favorite burgers.

"Here you go," he said smiling as he handed her the salad along with a fork.

She looked at it and sighed.

"You don't want it?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, it's fine. Thanks," she replied as she picked at the salad.

"Kensi, honey, I think Marty was just trying to be thoughtful," Julia said softly.

She looked up as she put a bite of lettuce in her mouth with a surprised look on her face.

"No, it's okay Julia. I know she's having a hard time deciding what she wants to eat these days," he said quietly.

"Marty… I'm so sorry," she said after she swallowed the bite. "I'm just being picky and wishing for a greasy burger which I know you would never give me right now anyway. I'm sorry."

"No problem Princess. I promise I'll get you a greasy burger as soon as you pop that baby out."

Julia laughed and smiled, "If only it were that easy."

"You mean it's not?" he asked grinning.

"You'd better stop now Marty before it gets worse," she laughed.

He looked over at Kensi and noted the irritated expression on her face.

"I'm sorry; I meant to say, 'after you give birth to our beautiful son or daughter'." He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers but the smirk was definitely still on his face.

Kensi laughed lightly and continued to eat her salad as Julia told more stories about when Kensi was a baby.

Deeks laughed and smiled as he watched Kensi blush furiously with each story told. He didn't have any baby stories of his own and he relished hearing hers.

* * *

Callen had agreed to meet Emily at her place that evening to start the sign language lessons. Sam had begged off, saying that Michelle was expecting him. He felt nervous about being with her but was excited at the same time. He hadn't felt this way about anyone in years and was trying his best to push that thought away. She was a teammate and a temporary one at that. He had to keep it purely platonic.

He knocked on her door and as soon as she opened it, he knew he was in trouble. Her hair was down and she was wearing a simple green tank top with jeans and was barefoot. She was beautiful and he had to keep saying to himself, 'purely platonic, purely platonic' as he followed her inside the apartment.


End file.
